Following a rough performance against the Europeans at the Ryder Cup, Tiger Woods rebounded in a big way on Thursday, defeating the world's No. 1 ranked player at the World Golf Finals in Turkey.
Woods was matched up against Rory McIlroy head-to-head for the first time and beat him handily, winning the match by six strokes to advance to the semi-finals. He will play Justin Rose next.
Both players had dropped their opening matches of the tournament, but Woods was able to recover to defeat the No. 1 player in the world.
"If it was a different format and a different tournament it might not have got as out of control as it did, but that's just the way it is," McIlroy said on Tuesday to Yahoo! Sports. "But it's fine. I know what I need to do tomorrow. I need to go out and win both of my matches and see if that's good enough. In a way it could be a blessing that I'm not complacent and I go out and give it my best."
McIlroy lost his third straight group match after Woods shot a 7-under 64. The Northern Irishman shot rounds of 76, 71 and 70 and will play on Friday in a pro-am tournament.
"It felt good and I really hit it good out there," said Woods to USA Today. "My game is starting to turn around a bit and I am beginning to hit it like I did at the start of the year."
Although the tournament is an exhibition with no bearing on world-rankings, Woods treated it seriously. He did not perform at the Ryder Cup and this was a chance to get the bad taste out of his mouth from that tournament.
Woods had an excellent day driving the ball and although he missed a few makeable putts, the match wasn't even close. Woods got off to a fast start, taking a five-shot lead after nine holes.
"I felt good today," Woods said according to the Golf Channel. "Really, really hit it good. I missed quite a few putts out there too, which is really interesting, because it could have been a real low number. But it's good to advance this afternoon."
Rose had a great day as well, setting a course record by shooting 62 to defeat recent U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson. On the other side of the tournament, Charl Schwartzel shot 8-under 63 to defeat American Matt Kuchar and will face Lee Westwood next.
"It was a good game out there," Rose said. "(I) ended up 9 under and Webb was 5 under but it was a much closer game than that. I've now got Tiger later ... and it looks like that will be a tough game as he is playing well and got himself into some form."
After losing to Woods, McIlroy will go home with a $300,000 check, but he wasn't too upset with his performance.
"I'm not that disappointed because I've got the afternoon off around the pool," said McIlroy, who was cheered on by his girlfriend, tennis player Caroline Wozniacki. "I just came here because I have never played in Turkey and there's a lot of good players here, and I thought it would be a fun week and it has been."
Woods looked much better than he did at the Ryder Cup, where he earned only a half-point for the U.S. team.
The exhibition tournament has eight players with the winner receiving a $1.5 million paycheck.
