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Thursday, 19 September 2013

Tiger Targets FedEx Jackpot

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Tiger Woods is hoping to secure his sixth title of the year and take home a $10m (£6.3m) bonus with victory at the Tour Championship starting on Thursday.

The world number one is one of five players who know a win in Atlanta would guarantee them the season-long FedEx Cup, while the remaining 25 players could also claim the bonus.

"Winning five times this year has been pretty good," said Woods.

"Like the other four guys in the top five we control our destiny."

He added: "I think I've had a good run here. I've won twice and finished second four times. That's not too bad over the course of my career here."

Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott, Zach Johnson and Matt Kuchar are the other players who know victory would secure them the cash bonus, while Woods could finish as low as 29th and still have a mathematical chance of winning.

For Open champion Phil Mickelson to win the jackpot, he needs to win the Tour Championship - which itself has a first prize of $1.4m - and for Woods to finish no higher than third.

England's US Open champion Justin Rose needs a similar scenario.

Rose's compatriot, former world number one Luke Donald, scraped into the event in 28th place by finishing fourth in the BMW Championshipon Sunday.

He needs a win and for Woods to finish no higher than 25th.

Tiger Woods (14) trails Jack Nicklaus (18) in the all-time list of major winners

While he has not added to his tally of 14 majors, Woods has otherwise enjoyed a fine year.

When asked whether he thought this had been one of his most consistent seasons, the 37-year-old said: "I think so. I won some big events this year - two World Golf Championships, a Players (Championship)and Jack (Nicklaus) and Arnold's (Palmer) tournament. I think that's been a pretty good year.

"I think that I'm excited the way I've put together my last couple of years and coming off the injuries, a lot of people thought I would never win again, and here we are with some more wins."

Tuesday, 12 March 2013

New Clubs Hold No Fears - McIlroy

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Rory McIlroy has no fears that ditching the Titleist equipment that has taken him to number one in the world will result in any diminishing of his golfing powers.

The USPGA champion's switch to Nike clubs next season, a deal that media reports estimate will be worth $250 million over 10 years, has been the subject of much debate with six-times major winner Nick Faldo among those questioning his decision.

Asked by reporters in Dubai on Tuesday if he had any concerns the change would jeopardise his confidence or form, McIlroy replied: "No, not at all.

"I think all the manufacturers make great equipment nowadays and it's all very similar - a lot of them get their clubs made at the same factories. I don't think it will make any difference."

Twice major winner McIlroy will bid a fond farewell to his old clubs at the $8 million DP World Tour Championship that starts on Thursday, the end-of-season showpiece event on the European Tour.

"I've started the process of trying a few new things," said the 23-year-old Irishman.

"I've tinkered about a little bit with the new ones, enough to feel comfortable going into next season" - Rory McIlroy.

"I'm still playing with my Titleist clubs - this is the last week - but I've tinkered about a little bit with the new ones, enough to feel comfortable going into next season."

McIlroy is delighted with the progress he has made this season and European Tour chief executive George O'Grady presented him with a special money clip on Tuesday.

"I thought we would take this moment to acknowledge the extraordinary performance of Rory this year, winning our Race To Dubai money-list before coming to the final championship, and winning the money-list in America too," said O'Grady.

"He played brilliantly all year and conducted himself in a manner where anybody would be proud to say, 'He's our champion'."

McIlroy said he felt "proud and honoured" to join the long list of greats to have won the European money-list.

"I've had four goes at it and it was great to be able to do it this year," he added.

"It's been a phenomenal year but I've still got one tournament left and I want to finish the season strong by picking up two trophies at the end of the week."

McIlroy agreed with many of his fellow players when he said the importance of the DP World Tour Championship had been diluted after he clinched the money-list title nine days ago.

However, he disagreed with Ryder Cup team mate Luke Donald who earlier in the day urged the tour to consider recalibrating the money-list ahead of the tournament in order to keep the excitement going until the final event of the season.

"I think the format is good," said McIlroy. "It's a season-long race - that's the way it is.

"I guess it is a bit of an anti-climax this week but as I said earlier I would love to pick up both trophies come Sunday."

McIlroy was undoubtedly influenced by the fact he missed out on overall victory in the FedExCup despite having won two of the four tournaments in this year's US playoff series.

Ultimately he knows he will be remembered for his wins in the 'big four' tournaments but he refuses to put on any additional pressure by targeting Jack Nicklaus's record haul of 18 major victories.

"I've always said I'm never going to put a number on it," said the 2011 US Open winner. "I don't want to do that, I just want to get my third.

"When I get my third then I want to try and get my fourth. A career grand slam is probably the next obvious goal," added McIlroy referring to a clean sweep of the British Open, US Masters, US Open and US PGA Championship.