GolfTalkCentral

Woods, McIlroy together again at Tour Championship

By Jason Sobel
Sep 18, 2012 3:19 PM ET

ATLANTA – Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods will renew their budding rivalry – or is it budding bromance? – at precisely 1:55 p.m. ET in Thursday’s opening round of the Tour Championship.

As the top two players on the FedEx Cup points list, McIlroy and Woods will compete together for the third time in four events. They were also paired at The Barclays and BMW Championship.

“Tiger gives me stick about being short,” McIlroy said, according to a report from the Irish Times. “He always asks me, ‘Seriously, how tall are you?’ I’ll say, ‘5-foot-9.’ ‘Yeah, but without the hair? That’s 5-7, right?’ He’ll ask me, ‘What do you do when Caroline (Wozniacki, McIlroy’s girlfriend) wears heels?’

Full tee times for Round 1 of the Tour Championship

“But I give him grief about all sorts – getting old, getting bald. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, certainly not when I’m around. … I’ve been seeing loads of Tiger and I’ve got to know the person.”

McIlroy and Woods – along with Nick Watney, Phil Mickelson and Brandt Snedeker – can each win the FedEx Cup with a Tour Championship victory this week.

Watney and Mickelson will be in the penultimate pairing of the first round at 1:45 p.m., preceded by Snedeker and Louis Oosthuizen at 1:35. The 30-man field will begin at 11:35 a.m., with John Senden and Scott Piercy in the first twosome.