By Alex Myers

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Predictably, at his Players pre-tournament press conference, Rory McIlroy was asked about Adam Scott's quick bounceback from blowing last year's British Open to winning this year's Masters. Not as expected was the recently-turned-24-year-old's candid response to how he copes with major pressure.

Related: The biggest bouncebacks in golf history

"I'm sure Adam thinks differently to what I do in terms of when you get into that position," said McIlroy, who famously came back from a Sunday collapse at the 2011 Masters to win that year's U.S. Open by eight shots. "What do you do; what do you think; how do you feel; do you try to think of something else; do you sing a song? Whatever it is you do, everyone treats it differently. But I think you have to go through those experiences to be able to handle it better in the future."

Move aside, sports psychologists. Apparently, the key to controlling your nerves is singing a song. So what tune got McIlroy over the hump at Congressional for his first major win?

"It was Adele," the two-time major winner said, not elaborating on the specific track by the Grammy-winning singer. "I didn't sing it quite as well as her, but it played every morning on the radio, so it was a song stuck in my head this week."

Related: Why the Players is golf's biggest toss-up

Wow. Using a song that is stuck in your head to your advantage? That's impressive. 

What's not as impressive is McIlroy's three missed cuts in three appearances at the Players. However, he had an equally as honest answer to the question of why he's struggled at TPC Sawgrass:

Related: Who will win at TPC Sawgrass this year?

"OK, the first year I came here I was in Vegas the week before. That didn't help. The second year was my 21st birthday. That didn't help. And last year I don't have an excuse. Last year I just didn't play well."

Or perhaps he just didn't have the right song for the occasion. 

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By John Huggan

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- It was, disappointingly for those enamored of his prospects before the off, more of the same for Rory McIlroy on Day 1 of the 2013 Masters. A round of 72 is hardly a disaster, of course, but level par wasn't quite what the world number two had in mind. Despite the promise born of a well-played second-pace finish in last week's Valero Texas Open, McIlroy reverted to recent type and littered his scorecard with what he now habitually refers to as "silly" mistakes.

Related: How players would tweak the Masters

"It obviously could have been better," he said, a downcast look on his expressive face. "I felt like I played well and gave myself of plenty of opportunities. But the two three-putts on the back nine came at bad times. I made enough birdies to have a good score so if I can eliminate the mistakes I'll be fine.

"The really disappointing thing is that I turned in two-under par. At that stage everything felt good. But every time I get some momentum at the moment, something happens and I give it all straight back. The back nine today was typical. And around this course you really can't do that.

"But I'm not that unhappy with anything other than the score. I felt like I hit the ball really well. I gave myself plenty of chances and if I keep doing that I'll be fine. All I have to do is take a few of them. But it's all about taking at least some of those opportunities and limiting the silly mistakes."

As ever with McIlroy, that is a pretty accurate and honest appraisal of a day's work that started full of promise but eventually frittered away into disappointment.

For the record, three birdies on the front nine -- at the second, fourth and ninth -- more than outweighed a dropped shot at the seventh. But that was as good as it got. A pushed approach into greenside sand at the always tricky tenth hole led to a second bogey and the first of those three-putts put a "4" on the card at the short twelfth.

Related: Tiger's and Rory's careers stack up

Both par 5s produced routine birdies but those highlights were cancelled out by sloppy bogeys at the fourteenth and seventeenth. All in all, it was erratic stuff that leaves the 23-year old Ulsterman with much to do over the next three days. Already he has 33 men in front of him. A daunting prospect, indeed.

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By Sam Weinman

AUGUSTA, GA. -- From images on a TV screen to a fairway under your feet, every golfer struggles to get past the initial awe of Augusta National. Rory McIlroy wasn't any different.

"It took me a while to get comfortable taking a divot," McIlroy said.

Related: Augusta National's unwritten rules

In the same way he has had to adjust to being a superstar, McIlroy has also had to learn Augusta, a process that goes beyond just allowing himself to kick up a little dirt. In four previous Masters, the world No. 2 has had one memorable collapse and still hasn't cracked a top 10, yet he says the collective experience here has only enhanced his chances.

Photo by Getty Images

"They definitely help you because every time you come back here, you gain a little bit more experience from the previous year," McIlroy said. "And, OK, you shouldn't hit it there; or you know, if you want to miss this green, you miss it on this side. You can play pretty sloppy around here but if you miss it in the right places, you'll get away with it."

Sloppy might be how one would describe McIlroy's start to 2013, a season he entered as the top-ranked player in the world. After a high-profile equipment change to Nike and a regrettable withdrawal midway through his second round of the Honda Classic, McIlroy seems to have regained his footing in recent weeks. A final-round 66 at last week's Valero Texas Open left him behind only Martin Laird, who shot 63; and he now enters the Masters more at ease with his game and his surroundings.

That last part has mostly been a function of trial and error here. McIlroy isn't one to solicit advice from other players as much as he is to try to figure it out on his own. He described now segmenting Augusta National's putting surfaces into "mini greens" so as to eliminate troublesome areas. Similarly, although he said he's now "100 percent there" with his Nike clubs, he said he's more likely to lay back off the tee rather than risk driving into trouble. All point to a golfer who has embraced this course's nuances.

Related: Our staff picks to win the Masters

"Is there really a difference between hitting an 8-iron or a 6-iron into a par 4?" McIlroy said. "Of course you still have to be aggressive around this golf course, but I think there's times where you have to put it in play, put it in the middle of the fairway instead of trying to give yourself an 8- or 9-iron into the green."

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By E. Michael Johnson

From the March 25 issue of Golf World Monday:

Photo by Getty Images

Even when not playing, Rory McIlroy (shown watching girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki play a tennis match Thursday in Key Biscayne, Fla.) is a topic of conversation. However, it wasn't just that McIlroy took a week off. He took a pass on the Arnold Palmer Invitational and when you get an invite from The King, people expect you to show -- among them, Palmer.

"Frankly, I thought he was going to play," said Palmer. "I was as surprised as a lot of people when he decided he was not going to play."

Graeme McDowell, however, backed his fellow Ulsterman. "I don't think he is disrespecting [Palmer]," said McDowell. "It's Arnold's tournament, and he's an icon of our sport, but we all know what schedules are all about."

McDowell referenced his own experience with Jack Nicklaus' Memorial tournament, saying he was "embarrassed" about not playing, but it was merely a scheduling issue.

Related: A frame-by-frame look at McIlroy's swing

"I feel for guys like Rory who are in the spotlight," McDowell continued. "But it's a 50-50 one. The guys want to be here, and they want to respect the legends and traditions of the sport. But it's hard to play every week."

As McIlroy found out, sometimes it's hard not playing too.

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By Tim Rosaforte

HOBE SOUND, Fla. -- Don't worry about Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy losing their form during an "off" week. Woods, who won the WGC-Cadillac Championship, and McIlroy, who rallied with a final-round 65 to finish T-10, were on the pairing sheet posted for this week's Medalist GC Member-Guest.

Related: A look at Tiger's and Rory's careers

Woods will be playing with Ahmad Rashad against a team of McIlroy and Michael Jordan on Friday in the gross division of a Stableford competition. Woods and Jordan are the Medalist members. Jordan (and Rashad) are also members at Bears Club, where McIlroy has a locker.

Photo by Getty Images

Based on the level of competition in the gross division, a winner could possibly not come from the flight containing the Nos. 1 (McIlroy) and 2 (Woods) players in the world.

Rickie Fowler and business manager Sam McNaughton won last year's trophy. McNaughton, a plus-2 handicap, played college golf at Fowler's alma mater, Oklahoma State. Fowler just defended his title for the second time in the Seminole Pro-Member and has also won the Medalist Caddie Tournament.

Hank Kuehne and brother Trip are also a team. Hank won the Amateur in 1998 and Trip the 2007 Mid-Amateur.

The sleepers could be board member Bill Boockford and son Billy, who played baseball at Notre Dame and is reportedly longer than any of the tour pros in the competition.

Related: Tiger's on-course "bromances" through the years

After the Woods-Rashad, Jordan-McIlroy pairing was reported online, the club has received calls to buy tickets, entry into the member-guest and also inquiries about one-week memberships. Only members and guests on the sign-up sheets will be allowed through the gate.

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By Dave Shedloski

MIAMI -- He brought with him a new attitude and a new extended waggle in his pre-shot routine, but Rory McIlroy couldn't shake the same old problems.

Tiger Woods just looked like his old self.

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Six days after walking off the course in frustration at the Honda Classic, McIlroy, the No. 1 player in the world, was back in the spotlight at the WGC-Cadillac Championship playing alongside Woods and Luke Donald, who trail immediately behind him at No. 2 and 3 in the world, respectively.

McIlroy didn't fare well outright or by comparison Thursday, spraying the ball off the tee but eking out two late birdies to salvage a 1-over-par 73 on a relatively calm afternoon at the TPC Blue Course at Trump Doral.

Related: McIlroy says he's sorry for quitting

Woods, meanwhile, buoyed by his putting lesson from Steve Stricker Wednesday afternoon, converted nine birdies in a 6-under 66 that gave him a share of the first-round lead with four others.

Donald recovered from two drives in the water to grind out a 2-under 70.

"Whatever [Stricker] says I'm going to do," Woods said with a smile after a round in which he needed just 23 putts. "He's one of the best putters that's ever lived.

"I think I'm going to have a contract with him," he added playfully. "He's only going to play, what, five tournaments this year? So I'll bring him out in his off weeks."

A winner in his first PGA Tour start of the season at the Farmer's Insurance Open, Woods was off his game last week at the Honda Classic, finishing T-37. But he appeared comfortable on the Blue Monster and perhaps left a shot or two on the course. His nine birdies was one shy of his personal record for 18 holes and just two fewer than he converted over 72 holes at PGA National.

"I played well. It was certainly a day that could have been a little bit lower," said Woods, tied atop the leaderboard with Bubba Watson, Graeme McDowell, Sergio Garcia and Fredrik Jacobson.

Related: A side-to-side look at Rory's and Tiger's swings

McIlroy, the reigning PGA Tour player of the Year after winning four times in 2012, probably couldn't get any lower after his struggles at PGA National that prompted a mid-round meltdown and withdrawal for which he has since apologized. In that light, his untidy 73 was a step in the right direction, especially towards the end when he hung in and birdied two of his last three holes.

"It was a bit of a struggle, to be honest," said McIlroy, 23, of Northern Ireland. "Hit some good shots, hit some not so good shots. But, yeah, as I've been saying all week, this is a work in progress, and I'm working at it and I'm staying patient."

It takes patience when you hit only three fairways and 11 greens. "It was nice to sneak in a couple birdies on the last three holes and make it look somewhat respectable, even though everyone seems to be going pretty low out there today," he said after five birdies against six bogeys.

"I don't think he's quite drawing the ball like he used to, that he wants," said Woods, who would not divulge what advice, if any, he has shared with the struggling Ulsterman. "Maybe just a little bit defensive out there. And that happens, and we have all gone through stretches like this. It happens, and it happened to him last year in the middle of the year and he ended up all right at the end of the year.

"When you play golf and you play golf for a very long time, you're going to have spells like this. You can't play well every week, even though you try. You're going to have ups and downs and just got to battle through it."

Reminded that during his long run as the No. 1 player in the world he seemed to avoid such fallow periods, Woods smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

Related: A comparison of Tiger's and Rory's careers

"He's working through some stuff in his swing, obviously," said Donald, who is the midst of incorporating with his own incremental swing refinements. "You can see his pre-shot routine is a little different. He's got that little waggle trying to get the club going more on the outside, and he's thinking about it a little bit. That's the toughest time in golf when you can't concentrate on just hitting good shots. You're focusing on you swing. It's tough a tough one to deal with, to leave the range behind you. It's a game of confidence, and once he gets a little bit of that back he'll be fine."

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By Dave Shedloski

MIAMI -- The dichotomy was striking.

A contrite and self-deprecating Rory McIlroy exuded maturity and humility Wednesday morning at Trump Doral Resort while explaining why those seemingly innate qualities were absent last week when he quit in the middle of his second round at the Honda Classic.

Related: McIlroy has company with odd withdrawal

"I gave myself a red card last week," McIlroy, 23, said jokingly to a standing room only crowd of reporters, appropriating a soccer term. (A red card signifies that a player has been ejected from the game.)

"No matter how bad I was playing," McIlroy continued, "I should have stayed out there. I should have tried to shoot the best score possible even though it probably wasn't going to be good enough to make the cut. At that point in time, I was just all over the place, and you know, I saw red. . . . It was a mistake and everyone makes mistakes, and I'm learning from them."

Photo by Getty Images

McIlroy, who is back in action this week in the WGC-Cadillac Championship, stood seven over par after eight holes last Friday at PGA National Resort and had just hit his approach to the 18th green into the water when he shook hands with playing partners Ernie Els and Mark Wilson and hastily walked off the Champion Course, where a year earlier he had won by two strokes and ascended to No. 1 in the world rankings for the first time.

As he departed PGA National, McIlroy admitted he "was not in a great place mentally." About an hour later he issued a statement blaming a sore wisdom tooth for affecting his concentration. McIlroy said both lower wisdom teeth are troubling him, and he had braces put on to alleviate the pressure. He intends to have them pulled when he returns home to Northern Ireland after the U.S. Open in June.

Being the No. 1 golfer in the world, living under a microscope, and playing poorly to begin the year after a total overhaul of his equipment have compounded the pressure on him and affected his amiable disposition.

"[It was both.] I wasn't in a good place with my golf game . . . my head was all over the place," he said. "But at the same time, I have been struggling with my lower right wisdom tooth for over a year. So, yeah, look, my tooth was bothering me, but it wasn't bothering me enough to probably, you know, quit, but that's just the way it is.

Related: Why there is no Rory-Tiger rivalry just yet

"I think it was a buildup of everything," he added. "I've been putting a lot of pressure on myself to perform and I've been working so hard and not really getting much out of it. That's just been the frustrating thing, and that's what happened. It was a buildup of high expectations from myself coming off, you know, the back of such a great year last year, and wanting to continue that form into this year and not being able to do it. I just sort of let it all get to me."

McIlroy felt well enough over the weekend to practice extensively at The Bear's Club near his U.S.-based home in Jupiter, Fla., and he senses progress to correct a flaw that has crept into his backswing where he picks the club up and outside the line. He clarified that he is not trying to change his swing so much as "trying to change it back to where it was.

"I've worked my ass off over the last four or five days to really try and get this right," he said. "Still, it's a work⿿in⿿progress. There's no quick fixes in golf, but I'm going to go out there this week and all I care about is my swing, and I know if I can get my swing back on track, that the results will follow."

Having not played a tournament round on the weekend this year, McIlroy is looking forward to four rounds in this week's WGC-Cadillac Championship. There is no cut in the $8.5 million event that features 65 of the top players in the world.

Related: How will Rory & Tiger fare on Trump's turf?

McIlroy is paired with No. 2 Tiger Woods and No. 3 Luke Donald for the first two rounds at the TPC Blue Monster at Trump Doral, with their opening tee time at 11:53 a.m. off No. 10. That marquee group already figured to be the most watched, but the critics will undoubtedly pick apart whatever McIlroy does after his premature exit from PGA National. He was OK with that and doesn't believe his actions will affect his popularity.

"Yeah, I actually think in the long run, Friday will be a blessing in disguise," he said. "It was like it just sort of released a valve and all that sort of pressure that I've been putting on myself just went away. And I was like, [let's] just go out and have fun. It's not life or death out there. It's only a game. I had sort of forgotten that this year."

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By John Strege

Just when you're looking to sink your teeth into a good golf rivalry, a toothache turns up.

This, at any rate, was the reason Rory McIlroy eventually provided in the wake of his questionable decision to walk off the course midway through the second round of the Honda Classic on Friday. His chief foe, Tiger Woods, also failed to hold up his end of the budding rivalry, his indifferent performance producing a tie for 37th.

Photo by Getty Images

But the story of the week, overshadowing the first PGA Tour victory by Michael Thompson on Sunday, was McIlroy and his choppers. They even earned a post on an unusual Facebook page called Celebrity Toothaches.

McIlroy might have been better served had he followed the example of actress Kate Hudson, the subject of another post at Celebrity Toothaches. "Kate Hudson Braves Tooth Pain For Fashion Shoot," the headline read.

Related: Rory joins list of other odd withdrawals

Who can say whether one's pain threshold is reached quicker through golf or modeling? But McIlroy could have spared himself a bruise to his otherwise flawless reputation had he played through whatever was bothering him more, his score (seven over par through eight holes) or his teeth.

"I think if he'd have waited five more minutes he wouldn't have done that," Jack Nicklaus said on the NBC telecast of the Honda Classic on Sunday. "I think he's a good kid and I think he tries to do the right thing. Unfortunately, it probably wasn't at that time."

So the fledgling rivalry between McIlroy and Woods, friends and foes alike, Nos. 1 and 2 in the World Ranking, is still on hold. Golf rivalries usually are, hobbled as they are by an inability to materialize, at least on a head-to-head basis, with anything approaching regularity.

The Yankees and Red Sox play 18 times a season, often with an American League East title at stake, producing a bonafide rivalry. For Woods and McIlroy to get together requires a friendly game at home in Florida, as they played after each was eliminated in the first round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship last month; an exhibition, as they played in China in October; or a fortuitous (or rigged) pairing, such as they received for the first two rounds at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in January, where both missed the cut.

In December, Nicklaus suggested that a rivalry would be good for both. "I think for Tiger, he probably needs somebody to pop him a few times so he gets a chance to go pop it back, you know what I mean?" Nicklaus said. "I think that's the way all sports work. It's kind of good for you to get drummed a couple times, and then all of a sudden you say, 'I'm not getting drummed anymore. I'm going to go drum that guy back.' That's sort of what rivalries are all about."

Related: A side-by-side comparison of Rory's & Tiger's swings

At this point, it's not a matter of beating one another, but beating themselves. Both are in the field at the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral this week, possibly for the last time before the Masters.

In the meantime, McIlroy, at a Tuesday news conference at Doral, is expected to explain himself further, to tell, as it were, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth.

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By Alex Myers

Rory McIlroy withdrew from the Honda Classic on Friday, citing "severe wisdom tooth pain." He might be the first World No. 1 to use that excuse, but he's certainly not the first notable golfer to bow out of a tournament in unusual fashion. Here's a rundown of some other recent, um, interesting reasons for failing to complete an event:

Sergio Garcia, 1999 St. Jude Classic -- Before "El Nino's" famous closed-eyes shot from behind a tree at the PGA Championship later that year, the 19-year-old needed surgery to remove an abscess above his left eye. Unfortunately, that happened the Thursday of the annual tournament in Memphis, forcing Garcia to withdraw before hitting a shot. The reason for the abscess? An outbreak of acne, according to his manager. So basically, Sergio was just a typical teen with pimple problems.

Tiger Woods hasn't had the best track record at TPC Sawgrass. (Getty Images)

Jim Furyk, 2006 Barclays -- Furyk withdrew before the start of the tournament with a bad shoulder. The catch? He injured it while brushing his teeth. Yeah. . . we're pretty sure he took a good ribbing from his fellow tour pros when he returned after that. Funny enough, Furyk had a freak disqualification from this same event -- when it was part of the PGA Tour's playoffs -- four years later when he overslept for the Wednesday pro-am. Incredibly, he bounced back to win the Tour Championshp and claim the FedEx Cup.

Related: Golf's worst injuries through the years

Tiger Woods, 2010 Players Championship -- In his third start since returning from his scandal at the end of 2009, Woods played decently at TPC Sawgrass until abruptly pulling out on the seventh hole of the final round. In recent years, Woods' WDs have become more common -- he withdrew at the 2011 Players also -- but for his various leg injuries. In this case, Woods cited neck pain. The 14-time major champion returned a month later for the Memorial, and hasn't seemed to have a problem with his neck since. Of course, nothing seemed to go right for Tiger that year. He had just two top 10s, didn't qualify for the Tour Championship for the first time, and couldn't even win his annual hit-and-giggle event at Sherwood when Graeme McDowell stunned him in a playoff.

Phil Mickelson, 2012 Memorial -- Lefty withdrew following a first-round 79 due to "mental fatigue." However, it later came out that he was protesting the PGA Tour's new policy of allowing fans to bring cell phones on the course. Specifically, Mickelson wasn't pleased about fans using their phones to take pictures while he played. Either tournament marshals have gotten better at controlling fans with phones or Phil has become less camera shy because he hasn't had a major issue with the policy since.

Related: A comparison of Tiger's and Rory's careers

John Daly, pick a tournament -- The master of the WD, Daly has made a bad habit of taking a sponsor's exemption -- and sometimes an appearance fee -- and then walking off the course before the weekend. His best reason had to be when he withdrew from the 2012 Singapore Open due to fatigue. But his best flameout exit occurred at the 2011 Australian Open. After making a triple bogey to fall to seven-over par in the first round, he hit seven shots into a pond on the 11th hole before shaking hands with playing partners Hunter Mahan and Craig Parry and walking off. What got him to finally stop? As he later said on Twitter, "when u run out of balls, u run out of balls."

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