TODAY'S meeting between the world's top two players, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, could be rendered meaningless after both lost their opening matches at the £3.2m Turkish Airlines World Golf Final yesterday.
McIlroy went down by six shots to Matt Kuchar after a dreadful run of triple-bogey, double-bogey, double-bogey from the 15th, while Woods lost by one to Charl Schwartzel after a bogey on the 18th.
The pair are scheduled to meet in the final match of Group 1 this afternoon, but further defeats for McIlroy by Schwartzel and Woods by his Ryder Cup team-mate Kuchar in the morning would mean neither player could reach the semi-finals, regardless of the result between them.
McIlroy's 7 at the 15th might not have been so costly in regular matchplay but this week's format is medal matchplay – the lower 18-hole total wins one point – and the 23-year-old admitted he "gave up a bit" after going three strokes behind with three to play.
"I was playing pretty well until the 15th, then I hit a loose tee shot and was messing about in the trees and made 7," said the world No.1, who had not seen the course before yesterday. "Then I hit it into the hazard on 16 and was just trying to get the round done. I lost a bit of concentration, went a few behind and gave up a bit. If it was a different format and a different tournament, it might not have got as out of control as it did, but that's just the way it is."
"But it's fine. I know what I need to do. I need to go out and win both of my matches and see if that's good enough."
McIlroy had two eagles on the front nine of the PGA Sultan course at Antalya GC, holing from 15ft on the third and 50ft on the seventh, but his round unravelled after he hit his drive right into trees on the 15th. He needed two attempts to get clear, but after coming up short of the green with his fourth shot, duffed his pitch and ended up holing from 10ft for a triple-bogey.
Woods, whose singles match at Medinah was also rendered inconsequential after Martin Kaymer ensured Europe would retain the trophy in the game ahead, was two under par after eight holes but ran up a triple-bogey 7 on the ninth. The 14-time major winner fought back with birdies on the 14th, 16th and 17th – the last took him level after Schwartzel bogeyed – only to bogey the last after failing to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker.
Asked about the prospect of facing McIlroy, Woods said: "I have to take care of my [morning] match and we'll see [what happens] in the afternoon. We both have to win in the morning. We're the two highest ranked players in the world right now and it will be a fun match either way, but it will obviously be a lot better if we both win in the morning."
In Group 2, Justin Rose beat Hunter Mahan by four shots and Lee Westwood beat Webb Simpson by one after the US Open champion bogeyed the 18th.
Rose also offered his thoughts on who should be Europe's next Ryder Cup captain, with Paul McGinley and Darren Clarke the current favourites.
"I think we have three or four good options available," he said. "I'm hearing Paul and Darren and maybe Paul Lawrie, but he is in the top 30 in the world and would probably want to play at Gleneagles.
"They [McGinley and Clarke] would both be great.I don't know if Darren might be more suited to America in 2016 as he is very popular over there. Paul will be very strategic and won't put a foot wrong tactically. He has holed the winning putt [in a Ryder Cup] before and it means a lot to him. We have good options across the board."
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