McIlroy Seeks Tiger Pointers

Rory McIlroy has "picked the brains" of Tiger Woods over the ankle injury which has prevented him defending his Open title.

McIlroy suffered a ruptured ankle ligament while playing football with friends last Saturday and told Woods about it the same day, although the world No 1 waited until Monday to release the news on Instagram.

"He sent me a photo the day he did it," Woods told ESPN.com after practising at the Old Course on Saturday. "We talked about it for a little bit.

"He said, 'You've been through a lot of injuries over the years.' So he picked my brain a little bit. We had a good talk. He's doing the right thing, taking care of his body first before he gets back out here. 

"No doubt he's frustrated that he's not going to be able to play in the Open Championship, especially here at St Andrews, and how well he's been playing of late, and this golf course really does set up well for him.

"That's the way it goes. We all get injured at one point in time. Sometimes it's through the sport or sometimes it's through fun activities. You just never know."

Woods arrived in Scotland on Saturday morning and admitted he was surprised by the condition of the course where he won the 2000 Open by eight shots and the 2005 Open by five.

"I was shocked," Woods added. "I had seen photos of it a month ago. It was bone dry. It looked like it was going to be one of those dust bowls again; hard, fast, like the years I've played St Andrews. It's changed. They got big rain and a lot of sun.

Former world No 1 Woods is currently ranked 226th after a nightmare season which has featured career-worst scores on the PGA Tour and in the US Open and a best finish of tied 17th in the Masters.

However, the 14-time major winner did card three sub-par rounds to finish joint 32nd in the Greenbrier Classic in his last start, including a bogey-free closing 67.

"I feel good," the 39-year-old added: "Sunday at Greenbrier is probably the best I hit it in two years. That was fun. It sounds crazy when I told everyone at Greenbrier that I felt close, after the scores I shot at the Memorial (85) and the US Open (80).

"I put it together at Greenbrier and hit it really good. [Instructor] Chris [Como] told me it was the first time I led the field in proximity to the hole with my iron game."

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Classic Harrington Wins Honda

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Padraig Harrington overturned a four-shot final day deficit to snatch a dramatic victory at the second play-off hole of a rain-delayed Honda Classic.

After bad weather had forced the tournament into a fifth day, Harrington, without a PGA Tour title since a two-stroke win at the 2008 PGA Championship, sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th to finish level on six-under with rookie Daniel Berger and force a play-off.

The pair both two-putted the first extra hole at the 18th for par, before Harrington nailed his tee-shot at the 17th to within five-feet of the hole as Berger found the hazard. With the American only able to double-bogey, Harrington took two attempts from five feet to end his title drought and book his ticket to next month's Masters. 

Earlier, Harrington had struck four birdies in a row to move in to the clubhouse lead, missing a 10-foot putt at the 15th for a fifth successive gain. The Irishman had lost his advantage with a double-bogey at the penultimate hole when his tee-shot flew into the water hazard, but sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th to force a play-off.

Berger, nine shots adrift heading in to the final round, had fired back-to-back birdies to close with an impressive six-under 64. 

Poulter, searching for a first stroke-play win in America, opened the day by rolling in a birdie at the 8th before missing an 11-foot putt for a further gain at the following hole.

Reaching the turn two clear, the world No 36 opened up the top of the leaderboard with a double-bogey at the 11th, finding the water with his second shot and then two-putting from 15-feet.

The Englishman was unfortunate again at the 13th when, from 120 yards, his second shot from the fairway bunker rattled the flag and spun away, with the resulting 15-foot birdie putt rolling alongside the hole.

Things went from bad to worse for Poulter at the next when, after taking a drop out of water following a wayward tee-shot, his third shot from the dirt ricocheting off a palm tree and ended back in the lake. After seeing his fifth shot fall in to a deep bunker, Poulter had to settle for triple-bogey.

With others faltering around him, Poulter ended positively with back-to-back birdies to end tied-third alongside British duo Russell Knox and Paul Casey. 

Overnight joint-leader Casey picked up an early birdie at the ninth, before dropping shots with an eight-foot missed putt at 11 and a tee-shot into a bunker at 14. Needing to pick up a stroke at the 18th to move joint-leader, Casey played his third shot out of the bunker to within 20-feet of the hole but saw his birdie-putt slow up inches short. 

Despite carding three bogeys in his final round, Knox ended strongly to post a two-under 68, while Jamie Donaldson made three late gains to finish a further shot back, with a three-putt from 50-feet at the 16th his only blemish.

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Honda Play-off Loss for McIlroy

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Russell Henley came out on top in a four-way play-off to deprive Rory McIlroy of victory as the Honda Classic.

The pair, playing in the final group, both finished eight under alongside Ryan Palmer and Scotland's Russell Knox after a remarkable last hour at the Jack Nicklaus-designed PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

McIlroy had earned his place with a stunning approach to the last but faltered around the green when the hole was replayed for the play-off and it was Henley who prevailed with a birdie four.

McIlroy began the day 12-under-par, two clear of his playing partner, but both his birdies on the front nine were immediately cancelled out by bogeys.

He dropped another shot at the ninth to leave himself 11 under and it closed up further on the back nine.

McIlroy dropped another at the 12th and followed a double-bogey at 16 - where he hit out of a bunker into the water - with another bogey to fall out of the lead altogether.

Henley had pitched in at 14 for a second successive birdie but gave both strokes back at the next when he dunked his tee shot in the water.

Palmer bogeyed the last to fall to eight under and was joined by Knox, the Scot's double-bogey six at the 14th proving costly - but the pair were able to watch in hope while keeping loose for a possible play-off.

At the 18th, though, McIlroy produced a moment of magic to set up the chance of a fairytale winning eagle.

The 24-year-old's second shot carried the water and bunker in front of the green and stopped almost dead, 20 feet from the pin.

Henley responded by duffing his pitch on, leaving himself a 60-foot birdie putt which he lagged to within five.

McIlroy's eagle putt trickled just by on the right and after he tapped in, Henley also holed out to make the play-off and he kept his nerve to make birdie while his rivals fell away.

McIlroy said afterwards  “I didn't play well enough to deserve to win today. It's very disappointing. It was a perfect opportunity to win. No one was really coming at me.

“There’s a few positives to take, but obviously it’s going to be hard to get over because I had a great chance to win my first tournament of the season and I didn’t.

“It’s tough to take at the minute but I’ll sleep it off tonight and get back at it.”

Earlier, world number one Tiger Woods withdrew after 12 holes of his final round due to back pain.

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Classic Rory at Honda

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Rory McIlroy held the lead midway through the Honda Classic, with a second-round 66 maintaining his one-shot lead over the chasing pack.

Among the early starters in Palm Beach on day two, the Northern Irishman recovered from two bogeys in his opening three holes to sink six birdies and move to 11 under for the tournament.

That saw McIlroy, who held a one-shot lead at the end of the opening day, maintain his advantage, withZimbabwe's Brendon de Jonge the nearest challenger on 10 under, two clear of Russell Henley.

Behind Henley were two Britons on seven under, England's Lee Westwood and Russell Knox of Scotland, with Welshman Jamie Donaldson one of three men on six under.

McIlroy was struggling for form this time last year and hit a real low point at Palm Beach when he withdrew midway through his second round complaining of fatigue.

"It's a different end of the spectrum I guess," McIlroy told pgatour.com. "I wasn't quite comfortable with my golf swing. I was still tinkering with equipment. I just wasn't feeling in control of, you know, what I needed to be in control of.

"This year is obviously a lot different."

McIlroy put his improved form in Florida this time around down to regaining his confidence.

"When you hit a few good shots, your confidence can go up quite quickly but then you hit one bad one, it can sort of go down again and that's where I was sort of most of last year," he said.

"Now I feel I'm happy with where my swing is, and even if I do hit a loose shot, I can get over it much quicker and much easier because I have the confidence in what I'm doing."

De Jonge, who carded eight birdies in his six-under 64, could have been level with McIlroy but for a bogey on his final hole, the par-four ninth.

Knox was blemish-free as he sunk seven birdies in his 63, which matched the best of the day, while Westwood carded six birdies against a single bogey for a 65.

Luke Donald kept up a good day for the British contingent as he moved into a share of ninth on five under with a 68, while further down the leaderboard compatriot Paul Casey just made the cut at level par, as did Tiger Woods andSergio Garcia.

Among those falling just the wrong side of the line were Phil Mickelson and Angel Cabrera, with Padraig Harrington, David Lynn, Darren Clarke and 2013 champion Michael Thompson also among those who missed out.

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