McIlroy gearing up for Spieth challenge
los angeles — Rory McIlroy is shifting into his head-to-head mode for the WGC-Dell Match Play tournament, and believes a successful defence of his title would set him up perfectly for next month’s Masters.
McIlroy, 26, heads to Austin Country Club seeking his first win of the season in what will be his last tournament before bidding to complete a career Grand Slam at Augusta National. The Northern Irishman is competing for the first time in Austin, where world number one Jordan Spieth won the US college championship with the University of Texas, but the world number three said course knowledge is not critical.
“It’s about playing the player that’s in front of you there on the first tee,” said McIlroy.
“It’s a sprint. It’s 18 holes. You don’t really have time to find your rhythm. You need to try to make birdies from the getgo. And that’s the approach I’ve adopted the last few years.” The event features 16 four-player groups, with the winners of each
It’s about playing the player that’s in front of you there on the first tee
Rory McIlroy
group advancing to knockout stages.
McIlroy, who will face 66thranked Dane Thorbjorn Olesen on Wednesday, is keen to notch a victory before Augusta, especially given recent performances by many of his rivals.
“Seeing the guys that have won, with Bubba (Watson) in LA, Adam (Scott) in those two starts in Florida, Charl (Schwartzel) in Tampa and Jason (Day) last week, everyone is running in good form,” McIlroy said.
“I feel like I’m close. I’m probably not quite where they are, and I haven’t had the confidence of getting a win this year, but I feel like it’s close,” added the Northern Irishman, who tied for third at this month’s WGC-Cadillac Championship. —