Riled Rory eager to prove Faldo wrong

It takes a lot to rile Rory McIlroy these days but Nick Faldo’s insistence that his move to Nike is “dangerous” raised the Down man’s hackles ahead of his first-round showdown with pal Shane Lowry in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship at Dove Mountain.

The six-time Major winner was the first to raise the red flag when McIlroy’s mega move became public knowledge last year. And while the English legend refused to back down yesterday, McIlroy stood up for himself in a way that should give Lowry food for thought.

Vigorously defending his decision to move from Titleist to the American equipment giant, McIlroy said: “Nick Faldo doesn’t know how I feel over the golf shot and I don’t know how he felt. But my guess is he was a little more analytically-minded than I am.