Honda Classic 2012: Rory McIlroy Holds Off Tiger Woods For Win

Tiger Woods reminded many of his former self, shooting 8-under on Sunday to lead all golfers at the 2012 Honda Classic. The impressive final round was almost enough to unseat Rory McIlroy atop the leaderboard, but the young Irishman was too consistent, shooting 1-under to earn the tournament win at 12-under overall, two strokes ahead of Woods. With the victory, McIlroy will take over the No. 1 spot atop the PGA world rankings.

Woods entered the day nine shots out of first place, but made four birdies and two eagles, making up three strokes on the final two holes alone. He entered the clubhouse in second place, needing McIlroy to lose his composure down the stretch in order to record the victory. McIlroy made par on his final five holes.

Tiger Woods shot 62 on Sunday, finishing the Honda Classic at 10-under and heading to the clubhouse two strokes behind Rory McIlroy, good for sole possession of second place. McIlroy, 12-under for the tournament and 1-under for the day, has completed 14 holes.

Tom Gillis (9-under through 14) and Justin Rose (8-under through 15) are also still in contention with several holes left to play. Even if Rose or Gillis overtake Woods, his mammoth comeback on Sunday is remarkable: his score of 62 is just one shy of his career-best over 18 holes, and his lowest since 2005.

It’s likely a case of “too little, too late,” but Tiger Woods is surging toward the top of the leaderboard in the final round at the 2012 Honda Classic. Rory McIlroy is still the top golfer in Palm Beach Gardens, but Woods is trying to make it interesting.

Tiger ended Saturday’s round out of the Top 10 at two-under, but has made up 14 spots in the standings through his first 11 holes on Sunday. Woods shot an eagle on Hole 3 and birdied 5, 7 and 11 to put himself in a tie for fourth place. He’s a few holes ahead of most of those in front of him, but it’s still worth keeping an eye on.

Rory McIlroy leads the 2012 Honda Classic by two strokes going into Sunday, but he won’t be in a Sunday afternoon pairing. The PGA is expecting bad thunderstorms in the afternoon, so they have moved up all tee times, put players into threesomes and decided to split them between two starting points, having half of the players start their day on the 10th tee. McIlroy will tee off at 10:30 a.m. ET on the first tee in a group with Harris English and Tom Gillis. Tiger Woods goes off from the first tee at 9:20 a.m. ET.

Here is the complete list of tee times for Sunday.

Rory McIlroy will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Honda Classic after surging past Tom Gillis on Saturday. McIlroy finished with a four-under 66, turning a one-shot deficit into a two-shot lead as Gillis struggled a bit.

Gillis shot a third-round 69, falling off the pace and into a tie for second place. He’s joined by Harris English who, like McIlroy, shot a 66 on Saturday to move up the leaderboard. Gillis and McIlroy hold a two-shot lead over Keegan Bradley, Justin Rose and Brian Harmon, who each sit at 7-under for the tournament.

As the leaders make the turn in the third round on a windy day at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, mid-point leader Tom Gillis maintains a one-shot lead over Rory McIlroy. The reigning US Open champion is coming off a strong week in Arizona at the WGC match play event, and took a momentary lead after birdies on three of the first five holes on Saturday. He followed up the three straight birdies with back-to-back bogies to go out in 34 and fall one back of Gillis who is at -9.

In addition to McIlroy, the Honda Classic leaderboard is peppered with young talent and another reigning major champion at the top. Keegan Bradley has had a wonderful first quarter of the season, challenging at Riviera two weeks ago in the Northern Trust Open. Bradley is two shots off the lead and one back of McIlroy at -7 through 11 holes of his third round. Rookie Harris English is right there with Bradley, two shots back of the lead through ten holes. The University of Georgia product is a dynamic talent who won a Nationwide Tour Event as an amateur last year, and many predict he will get a win in his first year on tour.

After a record-tying opening round on Thursday at the 2012 Honda Classic, Davis Love was beset by bogeys in round two and slid down the leaderboard. Tom Gillis had a record-tying round of his own on Friday and currently sits atop the leaderboard at Palm Beach Gardens with a one-stroke lead, along with Justin Rose, who is also at 8-under through the first two rounds.

The top of the leaderboard is knotted up quite admirably heading into Saturday’s play, with 17 different golfers within four strokes of each other. Competition looks to remain just as stiff throughout the remaining rounds.

The second round of the 2012 Honda Classic is in the books. Davis Love III entered Friday’s round of play at Palm Beach Gardens with a two-stroke lead over a gaggle of golfers in second place, including Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy and Dicky Pride.

Friday’s second round did not go nearly so well for Love. Just one day after matching the course record by going 6-under for a score of 64, he double-bogeyed on hole five and picked up additional bogeys on holes six and 17. He managed just two birdies on the day, on holes 16 and 18, and finished 2-over. His cumulative 4-under after the second round knots him with six other golfers in 11th place, including Ben Crane.

Davis Love III has a two-stroke lead entering round two of the 2012 Honda Classic at PGA National Golf Club in Palm Beach, Florida.

Love shot a six-under 64 on Thursday and is scheduled to tee off at 1 p.m. ET on tee No. 10 at the PGA National Champion Course. Other notable tee times include Tiger Woods, who is playing in the event for the first time since 1993 and is scheduled to tee off at 7:30 a.m. ET. Rory McIlroy tees off at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Davis Love III aced the fifth hole Thursday en route to a six-under 64 and the lead in the first round of the 2012 Honda Classic. Love matched the course record at the PGA National Champion Course and is two strokes ahead of the field headed into Friday.

Love described his hole-in-one after the round. From ASAP Sports:

Tiger Woods got off to a great start at the 2012 Honda Classic, but wasn’t able to capitalize, finishing Thursday’s opening round at 1-over 71, seven shots back of the leader.

After a birdie on the first hole, Woods gave it back with back-to-back bogeys on the sixth and seventh holes. He birdied the ninth to get back to even par at the turn. A birdie on 10 gave him new life, but a bogey on 12 brought him right back to even. He would bogey once more to end the day on the wrong side of par.

Tiger Woods returns to the PGA Tour and center stage when the 2012 Honda Classic tees off on Thursday. It’s Tiger’s first time in the event since 1993.

Woods and Rory McIlroy headline the field at PGA National Golf Club in Palm Beach, Fla., and they’ll be joined by defending champion Rory Sabbatini.

A strong field will be contesting at the Honda Classic starting on Thursday. Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy headline the field at PGA National Golf Club in Palm Beach, Florida, and they’ll be joined by defending champion Rory Sabbatini. The tournament has a sizable purse of $5.7 million and is the first of four consecutive weeks of tournaments in Florida. The winner will take home just over $1 million, and there are 500 FedEx Cup points at stake.

Normally a Par-72 course, The Champion course at PGA National has been made a more difficult Par-70 for the tournament. Justin Leonard has the tournament record score with 24-under par, but the course has been made significantly more difficult since then. Sabbatini’s 72-hole score in his win last year was nine-under.