Woods whips Kuchar; McIlroy match delayed

• By Randall Mell
• Oct 10, 2012 8:13 AM ET

Good news/bad news for Tiger Woods’ fans Wednesday from the Turkish Airlines World Golf Final.

Woods posted a 4-under-par 67 to defeat Matt Kuchar (72) in a Group 1 morning match in the second round, but the Woods-McIlroy afternoon match was pushed back until Thursday morning with a thunderstorm scrubbing play for the day.

Rory McIlroy remained winless losing his second round match to Charl Schwartzel (70-71). The top two from Group 1 after Thursday morning’s completion of round-robin play will advance to the semifinals along with the top two from Group 2.

Tiger Tracker: Day 2 in Turkey

Photo gallery: Turkish Airlines World Golf Final

''In my match now against Tiger, I will be out to get back a bit of pride and at least leave here winning one match,'' McIlroy said. ''I now don't have much to play for, so I would like to beat him so he doesn't go through to the semifinals and also to get some bragging rights.

''There is always an added edge when you play against a player like Tiger, and there were a few chances this year when we could have gone head-to-head in the bigger tournaments but it didn't quite happen. So I am still looking forward to next season when we can go head-to-head down the stretch - and bragging rights from this week will help a little bit.''

With Schwartzel 2-0, Woods 1-1, Kuchar 1-1 and McIlroy 0-2, there’s a question whether McIlroy is already eliminated from any chance of advancing.

The answer is no; McIlroy is still alive, but he is in an awfully tough spot and has to shoot low against Woods to avoid elimination.

It’s possible Group 1 play could end with Schwartzel prevailing with a 3-0 mark and Woods, McIlroy and Kuchar all tying for second with 1-2 records. In that case, the tiebreaker is total strokes for the three matches.

Going into Thursday’s final round-robin matches, Woods is 5 under, Schwartzel 3 under, Kuchar even and McIlroy 5 over. That leaves McIlroy needing to beat Woods by 10 shots to have a chance and also needing Schwartzel to beat Kuchar.

Whatever McIlroy's chances, his match with Woods matters. He can eliminate Woods with a victory should Kuchar also win.

In Group 2 play, Justin Rose (2-0) defeated Lee Westwood (1-1) and Webb Simpson (1-1) defeated Hunter Mahan (0-2). Rose will meet Simpson Thursday morning with Westwood meeting Mahan.

Round 3 tee times (ET)

1:10 a.m. Justin Rose vs. Webb Simpson

1:21 a.m. Lee Westwood vs. Hunter Mahan

1:32 a.m. Charl Schwartzel vs. Matt Kuchar

1:43 a.m. Rory McIlroy vs. Tiger Woods