RealClearSports: Tiger-Rory Rivalry Bubbling at Masters

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The other golfer was talking like a fan, which as a kid growing up and admiring Tiger Woods’ success is exactly what Rory McIlroy used to be.

Tiger’s records were yardsticks for McIlroy, as Jack Nicklaus records were – still are – for Woods, proof what can be accomplished and reason to strive for excellence.

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© RealClearSports 2012

Newsday (N.Y.): Mahan beats McIlroy to win Match Play

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

MARANA, Ariz. -- Enthronement will have to wait. Hunter Mahan, who is down the scale of fame, Sunday kept Rory McIlroy from winning both the Accenture WGC Match Play Championship and climbing to the No. 1 world ranking.

Was there motivation because the fans early on were chanting for McIlroy, the Northern Irishman, instead of Mahan, an American?

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Copyright © 2012 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Newsday (N.Y.): Final four set for match play title

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

MARANA, Ariz. -- The glamour is one side of the draw, where Rory McIlroy will face Lee Westwood, with a place at the top of golf's world rankings a possibility for the winner. The national interest is on the other side, the American side.

The marathon called the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship has reached today's final two rounds at the Ritz-Carlton Club on Dove Mountain north of Tucson, semifinals in the morning,McIlroy against Westwood, and Hunter Mahan against Mark Wilson.

The final between the winners...

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Copyright © 2012 Newsday. All rights reserved.

SF Examiner: US golfers will have their day again

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The questions are repetitive. And irritating. What’s wrong with United States golfers, or tennis players? Why are the best in the world from England or Serbia or Northern Ireland?

Maybe a better question is, does it matter? When did the U.S. Open or Wimbledon become like the Giants-Dodgers rivalry or Stanford vs. Cal? Would a U.S. golf fan rather see Rory McIlroy than Boo Weekley? Or Weekley because he’s from America, even if he’s not a major champion?

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Rory Goes After Royal St. George's

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SANDWICH, England — He's the new Tiger Woods. Absolutely. In the media tent, maybe even more than on the golf course. Rory McIlroy, as fans once shouted about Woods, "You da man.''

McIlroy came in for his pre-British Open session Tuesday, and writers and broadcasters barged through the main tent into the smaller interview area, jostling for a seat. As they used to do for Tiger, who, as we know is absent from a second straight major.

Rory Mac, as he's been labeled ...

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© RealClearSports 2011