PINEHURST, NC — Tiger Woods is gone (for now), but not forgotten, missing his second consecutive major championship after having back surgery in March.
“I’m sad; I miss him, yes,’’ Rory McIlroy said sarcastically Wednesday. “He’s now going through his rehab process and everyone is just waiting for him to come back, whether that be in the middle of the summer, end of the summer, somewhere in there.
“But in the absence of Tiger, it’s let people come through and be more recognized and shine for how good they are — Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson, Bubba [Watson], Jordan Spieth. We wouldn’t be where we are without Tiger Woods in our game. He’s done more for golf than I’d say anyone has in the past, [except] maybe Arnold [Palmer], but Tiger has brought so many new people into the game. He’s given us on Tour so many opportunities to play for bigger prize money, for more exposure, everything like that.
“When I say I do miss him, I sort of mean it, because he’s a great addition to the Tour. And he has been the face of golf for the last 15, 20 years and golf is a better sport and a better place with Tiger Woods in it. So, hopefully, he has a speedy recovery and he gets back on the course soon, because any tournament where Tiger Woods is a factor, he creates a big buzz.’’
Watson, the reigning Masters champion, chimed in on Woods.
“Tiger’s changed the game in many ways,” Watson said. “Tiger has brought a different mind-set to the game of golf for us professionals — about working out, eating better, the way we practice, the way we think about the golf course.
“Tiger’s brought the skill level around the world and brought it up a couple levels. The game of golf has grown so much because of Tiger Woods in the recent years that the level of golf is growing in the right way. It’s what Tiger’s done to the game, growing the game, that has made the 20-year-olds having a chance to beat the 40-year-olds pretty easily now. So anybody at any age can win at any time.’’
In McIlroy’s nine PGA Tour events this year, he has played his second rounds a cumulative 47 shots more than his first rounds. In every one of those nine events, McIlroy shot a lower score in his opening round than his second. The biggest disparity came at the Memorial, where he opened with a 63 and shot 78 the next day.
“It’s strange,’’ McIlroy said. “I think I’m first in scoring average on the PGA Tour on Day One and like 181st on the second day. I’d rather be like 70th in each. It just happened to be Fridays. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve got off to such good starts in tournaments where I may be thinking too much about my score, and I’m up near the leaderboard and I might be trying to push too much and keep it going.
“I spent two hours with Jack Nicklaus last week in his office in Palm Beach and had a great sort of conversation about everything, business, golf, brand, the whole lot. And I got a lot from that. And he said to me, ‘How the hell can you shoot 63 and then 78?’ I said, ‘I wasn’t meaning to, Jack.’ ’’
When Justin Rose won the U.S. Open last year at Merion, he became the first Englishman to win it since Tony Jacklin in 1970. As defending champion, he’s seeking to become the first player to win back-to-back U.S. Opens in 25 years. Curtis Strange was the last to do it, in 1988-89.
“I’ve allowed myself that thought for sure,’’ Rose said of defending. “Obviously that’s the plan this week. I feel like the U.S. Open test suits me. For me, being defending champion … I don’t even like that word, ‘defending,’ because it puts you in already behind the eight ball. You don’t want to be out there being defensive at all.
“So I’m just really excited about the opportunity this week presents. Obviously, it is only one guy who has the opportunity to repeat, and but I’m seeing that as a pressure-free situation. To win it again, the most important thing is winning my second major championship, but obviously to go back-to-back, that would just be the icing on the cake.’’