American duo Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods have added their voices to the ground swell of praise which has been heaped on Rory McIlroy since his ascent to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking.
Woods became the youngest World Number One in history on June 15, 1997, with McIlroy becoming the second youngest aged 22 when he clinched the top spot last Sunday following his victory at the Honda Classic on the US PGA Tour.
The American spent a total of 623 weeks at the game’s summit before being knocked off his perch by Lee Westwood; and whilst McIlroy’s reign could be ended as soon as Sunday night if either Luke Donald or Westwood were to prevail, Woods believes the Ulsterman has the potential to follow in his footsteps.
He said: “Rory has fantastic talent. He made a few makes on Sunday, but he recovered every time. You’re not going to play perfectly all the time – some people don’t realize that. You’re going to make mistakes, which he did, and that’s fine. He recovered, and if you look at it, he missed on the correct side each time. He did all of the things that you need to do to get the job done.
“Now he’s got to continue to improve, because everyone else is. Everyone else is out here working hard to become a better golfer, and a more consistent player. But Rory didn’t get where he is by not practising. So he’s just got to keep doing what he’s been doing. He’s working hard on his game and on his fitness, and it’s really paying off form him, because his recent record is very good.”
Mickelson has equally impressed with McIlroy’s rapid rise to become the world’s pre-eminent player.
He said: “He’s a very worthy Number One golfer in the world. We haven’t had somebody play to the level of Tiger, but that’s all changing now. We have four or five guys who are battling for the Number One spot on what seems like a monthly basis. I don’t know when it will settle, I guess we’ll see how it unfolds in the coming months. But for now, he’s certainly a worthy Number One.”
Report
