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Rory McIlroy has always looked up to Tiger Woods, with Nike even putting together an awesome ad in 2014 portraying a young Rory idolizing Woods and working his way towards the PGA Tour, showing how the now 15-time major champ inspired him to work his ass off to reach his dreams. And while the 29-year-old Irishmen has won four major titles of his own, he knows that, anytime Tiger is playing in a tournament, the sheer sight is enough to intimidate other players.
As most of us know, Tiger Woods has always worn a red shirt and black slacks during Sunday rounds, admitting that red is his power color and that he tries to use the style to almost warn opponents that he’s lurking on the course. While Woods wasn’t necessarily feared much over the past decade or so, since winning The Masters a couple of weeks ago, Rory McIlroy says that the “Tiger Effect” is back in full swing.
Speaking on their Golf Channel podcast, McIlroy and co-host Carson Daly were talking about Tiger’s victory at August, with Daly noting that Tiger used an intimidation method on playing partner Francesco Molinari by standing on the green while the golfer was playing his third shot on the 12th hole on Sunday — which Molinari would go on to double bogey. Carson Daly then outright asked Rory McIlroy if Tiger does “little things like that?” Here’s how Rory replied, per Sports Illustrated.
“Just sorta having that little glimpse of red in your eye?,” McIlroy said. “A hundred percent. I mean, he knows that he intimidates people and it’s like, ‘I’m going to make you feel my presence.”
McIlroy also suggested that Woods’ Sunday fashion choice may have subconsciously aided his confidence by hearkening back to memories of past dominance.
“One of the things that helped this whole thing is that mock-neck turtleneck thing that he came back with, people correlate that with that ’05 Masters win,” said McIlroy, who revealed in the podcast that he cried when Woods hugged his son Charlie after the victory. “And it probably made him feel good.”
Obviously, Tiger Woods has always been a polarizing figure on the golf course, and, to prove how he uses certain tactics to let other players know he’s got a close eye on him, just take a look at this tweet showing Tiger hovering by Lucas Bjerregaard at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event in Austin two weeks before The Masters.
Tiger standing juuuuuust close enough to bother Bjerregaard, but not quiiiiiite close enough where Bjerregaard is gonna say something. Classic match play move 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/BTp9Ls00eZ
— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) March 30, 2019
Tiger Woods is officially back, and Rory McIlroy — along with every other golfer — should be weary of some of the intimidation he’s going to use while playing with him.