Tiger Woods has praised the efforts of Rory McIlroy after the Northern Irishman returned to the top of the world rankings in 2022.
The two stars have been prominent figures in the sport's civil war after LIV Golf's inception, teaming up to form their own virtual TGL venture in a bid to attract a new audience to the PGA Tour. But despite agonisingly losing out to Cam Smith in a Sunday shootout for The Open in July, McIlroy's game didn't seem affected by the saga.
The 33-year-old won the FedEx Cup for a third time and claimed a fourth Harry Vardon Trophy for Europe’s top golfer. And he finished the year as the world No 1, edging out US Masters champion Scottie Scheffler.
And 15-time major champion Woods, who himself made a remarkable return to the sport at Augusta in April, has been impressed with how McIlroy had conducted himself both on and off the course: "We all as players want to compete against each other and beat our brains in," Woods said, via Eurosport . "The key is how.
“Rory has had the toughest deal of all here because he had to compete and play. I wasn’t playing that much. He had to answer all these questions. We had all the meetings and conference calls together and were communicating and in lock-step behind each other.
“But I was not out front having to deal with questions in the media, he had to deal with that and not only that he had to try and play and win events, which he was able to do. So hats off to him for doing what he did this entire year.”
McIlroy has softened his volatile stance against LIV Golf of late, conceding that both tours needed to now negotiate compromise so they can co-exist. However, both him and Woods have called for Greg Norman to step down as CEO of the Saudi-backed project so that talks can commence.
How many times Woods and McIlroy compete against each other in 2023 remains to be seen, with the American thus far coy about his schedule. He did however, look in good form when he teamed up with son Charlie at the PNC Championship.
During the tournament, he admitted last year had been "tough" but "rewarding" after managing to appear in three major events despite searing leg pain. He and McIlroy also teamed up in a defeat to Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth in the latest edition of 'The Match' in October.
