McIlroy making most of Tiger's absence

Golf:Rory McIlroy is determined to make the most of Tiger Woods being down and, for the time being at least, out as well.

Woods has not won a title since November 2008 and has been out of action since mid-May because of knee and Achilles injuries and has yet to decide whether he is fit enough to play in the The British Open on July 14th-17th.

In contrast, McIlroy has spent the last week enjoying his US Open victory before visiting Wimbledon tomorrow and then starting practice for The Open.

“It’s a good time for me to win things when he’s not playing his best,” said the 22-year-old.

He added: “The first thing for Tiger is to get healthy and see what happens from there. I don’t know if anyone can answer if he’ll get back to where he was 10 years ago, but a lot of people would like to see him back on the course.”

The Holywood golfer won his first major title by eight shots and with a record 16 under par total in Washington.

“To have these 10 days off is very nice now I can try to win The Open,” McIlroy said.

“A lot of things go into winning a tournament. Obviously there’s preparation and needing to play well and you need a bit of luck. But I feel as if I’m playing well and have a really good chance of winning and that’s all you can ask for.”

McIlroy added that he has not had time yet to reflect on the performance of his young life.

“I’ve been so busy, but when I do I’m sure it’ll sink in. All I wanted to do was get in a position to win again. I had a tough loss at The Masters everyone knows about that and I felt I learnt a lot. But I didn’t know how much until I put myself in that position again and luckily I was able to do it.

“I handled the ball the whole week a lot better. It went in my favour and it was great to get that first win.”

It opens the door to him playing the PGA Tour in America again, but he said: “It’s a tough one because I’m very comfortable living in Northern Ireland and being with friends and family.

“If I joined I’d feel like I was giving part of that up. I’m not prepared to move away from home yet and base myself in the US full-time.”