Share
3rd March 2011
09:32am GMT
Rory McIlroy has reopened a war of words with former World Number One Tiger Woods by labelling him as ‘just an ordinary golfer’.
Tiger, who was won 14 majors during a glittering career, has endured a humiliating fall from grace since revelations about his private life and dalliances with ladies of the night became known to the public at the end of 2009.
Despite looking at times during the last year as if he was going to rediscover the aura that made him the undisputed king of the fairways and probably the most well known sportsman in the world, Woods has failed to win a tournament since the JBWere Masters in Australia in November 2009 and has slipped to fifth in the World Rankings, behind European quartet Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood, Luke Donald and Graeme McDowell.
Rory McIlroy, who angered Woods prior to the Ryder Cup last year by suggesting that he’d relish taking him on considering Woods’ poor form, has rubbed salt into Woods’ wounds by suggesting that he was an ‘ordinary golfer’ and doubting whether he would ever dominate the sport again.
“I wasn't playing against Tiger Woods when he had that aura - I was watching on TV!' wrote McIlroy on the American website golf.com.
“I remember getting nervous when I first met him. I was 15. There was a presence about him. There still is to some extent, but when you're on the golf course you simply block it out.
“But Tiger is not playing as well as he was even a couple of years ago, never mind going back to the late 1990s and early 2000s, when he was at his best.
“I'm not sure we are going to see him dominate again the way he did. He never seemed like he would make a mistake.
“It's not that he's playing badly. He's simply playing badly by Tiger's standards. He's playing like an ordinary golfer.”
Lee Westwood, meanwhile, a close ally of McIlroy’s on tour and far more experienced than the Holywood native, suggested that there was a little bit of naivety in McIroy’s comments and that it would be foolish to write off someone who has had such an influence on the sport.
“That's the answer a 21-year-old would give - 37-year-olds are a little wiser,” said Westwood.
“Having played with Tiger since 1997 there's an old saying that class is permanent and form is fickle - and he's the classiest player I've ever played with.
“I'd be wise enough not to write him off. I've seen him play poorly and win - he doesn't necessarily have to get back to where he was.”
