while world no. 2 tiger woods was missing the
cut in abu dhabi aided by a rules kerfuffle, the
planet’s no. 1 player, rory mcilroy, elected to do
it the old-fashioned way, with a pair of ugly 75s.
panic not. phil Knight didn’t call to get his $200
million back. the abu dhabi Hsbc was the first
tournament where mcilroy flew the banner of
the nike swoosh. given the overall critique of his
game, you’d have thought he’d turned up with a
set of two-headed serpents. this second-guessing was encouraged when mcilroy switched from
the nike putter he used in the opening round
to his scotty cameron for the second round, a
move he maintained was because his old putter
was heavier and a better fit for slower greens.
mcilroy has four weeks to get it all sorted for
his u.s. debut in a different desert in the wgc-accenture match play outside tucson. “probably
just need to find a driver i’m comfortable with
because i didn’t drive the ball at all well,” he said.
take a few deep breaths, everyone. this was the
young ulsterman’s first competitive golf in eight
weeks. “as long as i feel like my game is in good
shape heading into augusta, that’s all i’m worried
about.” —Jim Moriarty @GWMoriarty
01RoRy’s;Rough;sTaRT
andre w redington/getty images
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