{"id":20651,"date":"2013-01-15T12:13:01","date_gmt":"2013-01-15T12:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/mcilroy-and-tiger-face-off-in-the-first-big-duel-of-the-year\/"},"modified":"2013-01-15T12:13:01","modified_gmt":"2013-01-15T12:13:01","slug":"mcilroy-and-tiger-face-off-in-the-first-big-duel-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/mcilroy-and-tiger-face-off-in-the-first-big-duel-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"McIlroy and Tiger face off in the first big duel of the year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-2512\" src=\"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.holaincompany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/News_1.-abu-dhabi-hsbc-rory-mcilroy-tiger-woods-justin-rose-credit-getty-images.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/News_1.-abu-dhabi-hsbc-rory-mcilroy-tiger-woods-justin-rose-credit-getty-images.jpg 700w, https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/News_1.-abu-dhabi-hsbc-rory-mcilroy-tiger-woods-justin-rose-credit-getty-images-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/>Rory McIlroy, world number one, and Tiger Woods, number two, will meet for the first time this year in this week\u2019s Abu Dhabi Golf Championship HSBC, which starts on Thursday.  <span style=\"line-height: 1.3em;\">Under the watchful eye of a camel, Northern Ireland\u2019s McIlroy, runner-up in last year\u2019s tournament in the emirate, and Woods, 14-time major winner, will also have to contend with another tough nut to crack, England\u2019s Justin Rose, ranked No. 5 in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The three are some of the big names in a top-notch lineup that will battle at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club for the $2.7 million first prize in this tournament organized by the Abu Dhabi Culture and Tourism Authority.<\/p>\n<p>McIlroy said, \u201cI get a special feeling when I play in the Emirates and really enjoy the flavor of the local culture. I always receive a warm welcome in the Middle East, which is becoming an increasingly important destination in the world of golf.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-2514\" src=\"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.holaincompany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/News_5.-tee-time-tiger-rory-share-traditional-arabic-coffee-ahead-of-this-weeks-abu-dhabi-hsbc-golf-cship-credit-tca-abu-dhabi.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"477\" srcset=\"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/News_5.-tee-time-tiger-rory-share-traditional-arabic-coffee-ahead-of-this-weeks-abu-dhabi-hsbc-golf-cship-credit-tca-abu-dhabi.jpg 700w, https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/News_5.-tee-time-tiger-rory-share-traditional-arabic-coffee-ahead-of-this-weeks-abu-dhabi-hsbc-golf-cship-credit-tca-abu-dhabi-300x204.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Woods, who finished tied for third in last year\u2019s tournament, said: \u201cMy season starts here and I\u2019m really looking forward to it.<span style=\"line-height: 1.3em;\">The line-up competing in Abu Dhabi<\/span> <span style=\"line-height: 1.3em;\">s is world class and it\u2019s going to be a tough week. Whoever wins is going to have to play very well.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Rose agreed, saying, \u201cThis is my debut in Abu Dhabi, but I\u2019ve heard a lot about this event from the other players on Tour and I\u2019m hopeful of having a good start to the year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.3em;\">In addition to McIlroy, Woods and Rose, Ernie Els will play this tournament for the first time, while Jason Dufner, world number nine, will also make his debut in Abu Dhabi. With three wins in the trophy, Martin Kaymer will be fighting for his fourth title, while Paul Casey will try to achieve his third victory in the tournament. Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and defending champion Robert Rock are other contenders.  <\/span><\/p>\n<p>.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rory McIlroy, world number one, and Tiger Woods, number two, will meet for the first time this year in this week\u2019s Abu Dhabi Golf Championship HSBC, which starts on Thursday. Under the watchful eye of a camel, Northern Ireland\u2019s McIlroy, runner-up in last year\u2019s tournament in the emirate, and Woods, 14-time major winner, will also [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}