Sports

Tiger, Rory unable to recreate Honda magic

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — A year ago, it was Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy dueling down the stretch in the final round of the Honda Classic.

A year later, PGA tour neophytes Luke Guthrie and Michael Thompson share a two-shot lead at 8-under entering today’s final round at breezy PGA National.

A year ago, the Honda Classic basked in a perfect storm. With Woods and McIlroy in contention in the final round, the tournament organizers and television executives were positively giddy. They could not have asked for more — until the final round unfolded.

That’s when it got even better.

Woods made a dramatic charge at McIlroy’s lead with a final-round 62, sending a jolt of electricity through the grounds. In the end, McIlroy held on to win the tournament and captured the No. 1 world ranking in the process.

With expectations of a similar Woods-McIlroy showdown this week, the vibe around PGA National is quite a bit different entering today’s final round (1-3 p.m., Golf Channel; 3-6 p.m., NBC).

McIlroy controversially withdrew from the tournament on Friday, quitting in the middle of his second round while playing miserable golf and later offering a questionable excuse that wisdom tooth pain caused him to pull out.

Woods, with a chance to inject some star-power life into the tournament when he got off to a hot start in yesterday’s third round, leaked it all away on the back nine to fade from contention at even par and eight shots back for the tournament.

“I thought realistically 5 or 6-under par would be a good score and I thought if I post that had I would be within six or seven shots of the lead going into [today] at worst,’’ Woods said.

But in the end, Woods’ fast start turned out to be a tease as he wasted a 3-under front nine 32 by going 3-over on the back.

Woods’ round was marred by a double bogey on the par-3 17th hole, where his tee shot plugged so badly on a muddy bank that he was unable to find it, forcing him to re-tee.

Woods, who made the cut on the number and was the third group off the tee in the morning, birdied the first, third and eighth holes to make the turn in 32. But he promptly gave one back on No. 10 with a bogey when he missed the green in a bunker and failed to get up and down.

The mess on 17 was the final dagger before he was forced to scramble for par on 18 to stay even.

Since Woods won his 75th PGA Tour title at the Farmers Insurance Open in late January at Torrey Pines, he has been eliminated in the first round at the WGC-Accenture Match Play (though he didn’t make a bogey) and now has shot three consecutive even-par 70s at the Honda Classic.

No McIlroy in the field and Woods out of contention entering today’s final round is not what tournament officials or NBC television executives dreamt about entering the week.

Despite the lukewarm results through three rounds this week, Woods insisted his game is “not that far off.’’

The next tournament for Woods and McIlroy is the WGC-Cadillac Championship next week at Doral, where there is no cut. So, barring another meltdown by McIlroy, who has failed to make a cut this year and has played just 4 1/2 tournament rounds, he will play four rounds for the first time this year.

Before then, though, the Honda Classic will crown a new champion whose last name is not Woods or McIlroy.

“I think we have a great pairing to be in the final group again [today],’’ Thompson said. “Even though we are out in front with the lead, we are kind of under the radar. We are not marquee players … quite yet. But we’ll just go out there and play golf and see what happens.’’

They’ve got a tough act to follow from last year’s McIlroy-Woods fireworks display.