McIlroy intimidates Woods, says golfing great Faldo

It was usually the case that when Tiger Woods' name was in the field, other golfers broke out into a sweat.

When he prowled the fairways and greens, those ahead of him felt the heat and consistently looked over their shoulders, and the ones following behind would usually suffer because the huge distraction would throw them off their game.

No one would have believed the shoe would have been on the other foot when Woods was lighting up the world of golf from the mid-1990s through to the next decade.

But English golf legend Nick Faldo believes the sight of Rory McIlroy in full flow could actually intimidate the 14-time Major champion.

Speaking to The New Paper at Sentosa Golf Club yesterday, Faldo said: "When he sees how far Rory hits, Tiger's gonna think: 'Wow, I've got to really push to keep up with this kid.'

"The 14 years difference between those two will feel a lot, to be honest. It really will.

"Rory's young and fresh and training like crazy now. These (younger) guys have really stepped up the training (aspect) now, training for explosive power.

"The science of this game is really out there now, they've taken it to a new level."

With six Major victories, Faldo, who is in town at the invitation of MasterCard, is the most successful English golfer.

Woods sprang a surprise on Sunday when he announced that Chris Como, a little-known 37-year-old finishing his Master's degree in biomechanics, was his new swing "consultant".

Woods, who last won a Major in 2009 when he lifted the US Open, still believes he can add to his haul, but Faldo said: "Tiger's gone five years now without a Major, and, as we've seen, he's put a lot of stress on his body, on his game and on his mind

"I bet he's feeling very good now: He has a new coach, new thoughts, new visions, new goals (and) I like the idea that he's gone after somebody who is very big on the biomechanics of the game.

"But I think that Tiger's got injuries that we don't even know about.

"He's got to find a way to swing around that and he wants to go at 100 per cent.

"And as we saw after his back surgery, he still didn't want to throttle back."

At 25, Ulsterman McIlroy already has four Majors under his belt, with two - the Open Championship and the PGA Championship - collected this year.

Faldo, who was the world No.1 for a total of 97 weeks, expects McIlroy to lead a new golden generation of golfers who will dominate the sport over the next few years.

He envisions a new "Big Five" not unlike the quintet of Woods, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Phil Mickelson, who ruled the game for three years from 2004.

The five exchanged positions in the world's top five and won nine Majors between them during that time - Woods 4, Vijay 1, Goosen 1 and Mickelson 3, Els had already won 3 by 2004.

When asked to look into his crystal ball and pick next year's four Major winners, Faldo said: "I think the best players in the world will start winning the Majors.

"We had a run, didn't we, for quite a while, where we had 15 different winners in 16 Majors or something.

"Rory was the only one who was a multiple winner out of all of that.

"But if you look at the quality of the top golfers - Rory, Henrik Stenson, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose, Adam Scott - those guys are the obvious top ones.

"Those guys, because of the quality of their play, when they're at their best, they're pretty much there at the top.

"I've been predicting a couple of years now that we would go into another 'Big Five', and they might rule golf for the next five years. That's my speculative crystal ball on next year."

He added that outsiders like Jason Day, Keegan Bradley and Jamie Donaldson could yet make the leap into that top bracket.

Faldo, who flew in from Dubai yesterday, is in town for the Mastercard Legends Academy event today, which will see him play 18-holes at the Serapong Course at Sentosa Golf Club with over 100 guests.

At a media event at the club yesterday, Faldo also went head-to-head with national golfer Marc Ong in a series of fun challenges on the driving range.