Woods has McIlroy in his sights at Dubai golf

Tiger Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational yesterday to reclaim the No. 1 spot in the world golf rankings.

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have seemed to be spending more time together since Rory signed with Nike last fall. This week the two played a practice round at the US Open together, and on Monday night they both attended a dinner for past champions. At the dinner, this delightful picture was taken (via r/Golf):

Tiger Woods is the favorite to win the Masters. Vegas Insider has him at 3/1. For context, Rory McIlroy has the next best odds at 8/1.

Well, that didn't last very long! After one shaky round of golf, Rory McIlroy dumped his Nike putter for his old Titleist-made Scotty Cameron putter.

Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy were all set on ending long winless streaks on the final day of the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday.They were part of a leaderboard logjam that saw 20 players poised to strike within three strokes of the lead.That was shared at eight under between McIlroy, the 21-year-old Ulsterman who held the outright lead after the first two rounds, Anders Hansen of Denmark and Thomas Aiken of South Africa.

Tiger Woods had golf's young brigade, led by Rory McIlroy and Jason Day, firmly in his sights Saturday as he looked to win the Masters for the first time in six years.The chastized former world No.1 signalled a belated return to form by shooting a six-under 66 in Friday's second round, highlighted by a stunning back nine of 31.That totally changed the picture at Augusta National as Woods went from flirting with the cut to menacing the leaders as he finished the day tied for third at seven-under 137 alongside South Korea's K.J. Choi.

Rory McIlroy lifted a huge weight of expectation from his shoulders with a stunning four-stroke victory at the Quail Hollow Championship.The Northern Irishman shattered the course record with a 10-under-par 62 in the final round at Quail Hollow.In barely four hours, he made the golf world temporarily forget about Tiger Woods and focus instead on one of the game?s brightest rising talents.