This is not the rivalry anyone had in mind when Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy began the year.
They made their debut in Abu Dhabi and both missed the cut. The next time they played in the same tournament was last week in the Match Play Championship, and both were eliminated in the first round.
Woods returned to Torrey Pines the week after missing the cut, and won by four for his 75th career win on the PGA Tour.
McIlroy is still looking to steer talk away from his switch from Titleist to Nike, and back to his game.
The two are the featured players today at the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., a tournament that has been rejuvenated in recent years with a couple of significant moves. One was changing the site to PGA National, which has hosted a PGA Championship and a Ryder Cup.
The other was a vast improvement in the neighborhood. Woods moved to nearby Jupiter Island, while McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Charl Schwartzel are located at Old Palm just down the road. Keegan Bradley, Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson and others also have moved to south Florida.
It turned out to be the right recipe to get a good field, although Woods and McIlroy are at the top of the list, especially with the Masters getting closer.
Whether the Florida swing starts with the Honda Classic or Doral, as it once did, the feel of that warm, tropical breeze, palm trees, white bunkers and blue water hazards signal the first step toward the first major of the year.
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