After a furious week of news regarding Rory McIlroy and Nike, things have come down back to Earth a bit. The much anticipated rounds of Rory using Nike clubs in competition for the first time was dampened by his struggles as he shot two consecutive rounds of 75 at the Abu Dhabi Championship. The biggest news of Rory’s first two rounds may be that he ditched his new Nike Method 006 prototype putter for his old trusty Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport GSS putter.
As for Tiger, he didn’t fare much better than his new Nike teammate. After initially thinking he had made the cut, Tiger was informed by European Tour chief referee Andy McFee of a two shot penalty he had incurred on hole #5. The penalty was due to Tiger incorrectly thinking he had a free drop after his ball became entangled in vines during his second round. Tiger thought his ball was embedded and even confirmed with playing partner, Martin Kaymer. Unfortunately, the ruling was that the ball was in sand, which resulted in a two shot penalty for Tiger. This definitely takes the wind out of the tournament in Abu Dhabi as the world’s top two players are not around for the weekend. However, Justin Rose continues his strong play after the 2012 Ryder Cup and is currently atop the leaderboard after 3 rounds!
Source: Golf.com
