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Tiger Woods believes Rory McIlroy is slowly getting his game back on track and predicted that the former world No1 would claim his first victory of the year by the end of December.
McIlroy was on top of the world at the end of 2012, having won the orders of merit on both sides of the Atlantic, but he has had a turbulent season this year on and off the course.
The Northern Irishman changed his clubs to Nike in January, a switch that was criticised by several pundits. He is also in the middle of a bitter court dispute with his former management team and, according to media reports, has split from his girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki.
"He is playing better and swinging a lot better," Woods said. "You can see that some of the stuff he and his coach are working on is starting to come together.
"He's starting to put together a few good rounds, now he just has to make a few more putts. I can definitely see him winning sometime this year because his game has come around."
Woods, winner of 14 major titles and currently world No1, had a close-up view of McIlroy when he lost to the twice major winner in a lucrative head-to-head exhibition match on China's Hainan Island on Monday.
The two golfers are both based in Florida and the 37-year-old American said he and McIlroy, now world No 6, had formed an excellent relationship.
"Rory has become a good friend of mine over probably the past year, year and a half," Woods said. "It seems like every tournament we're paired together, we're also playing practice rounds together and we have really hit it off.
"He plays on both tours, US and European, so we see each other at big events and, when we do, we try and play practice rounds whenever we can."
The American is to miss the final World Golf Championship event of the season in Shanghai this week but will compete in next week's Turkish Open.
