McIlroy benefitting from Nicklaus advice

Irish golfer Rory McIlroy credits Jack Nicklaus with helping him secure his breakthrough win in America, so would love nothing more than winning Nicklaus' own tournament this week.

McIlroy was becoming frustrated at failing to add to his victory in the 2009 Dubai Desert Classic, so sought out 18-time major winner Nicklaus at the Honda Classic in March.

And the hour and a half spent picking the 70-year-old's brains soon paid off as McIlroy produced a stunning final round of 62 to win the Quail Hollow Championship last month.

"I was struggling, not really being able to finish tournaments off and he was the best at finishing off so I sat down for 90 minutes and asked him questions and it was great to hear his thoughts on winning and how he stayed focused," McIlroy said ahead of the Memorial Tournament which was due to get underway today.

"I just said I want to win. He was very big on patience, very big on letting the other person make the mistake.

"He also told me a story about a US Open when he had a putt to win and blew it four feet past and missed the one coming back to lose, and he said from that point on he said he would never three-putt again."

Nicklaus admitted yesterday McIlroy's win was one of the rare bits of golf he watched on television, and McIlroy added: "He sent me a really nice note after I won at Quail Hollow so he's obviously watching my progress.

"I feel very privileged to have been able to sit down with him and it's obviously helped me over the last few months."

McIlroy was due to be among the early starters in a star-studded field today, the 21-year-old playing alongside Ernie Els and American Sean O'Hair at 8:15am local time.

US Masters champion Phil Mickelson tees off a few minutes earlier from the 10th, with world number one Tiger Woods among the later starters after returning from a neck injury which forced him to quit the final round of the Players Championship last month.

"The neck feels pretty good," Woods said yesterday. "It's still not where I want it to be but the inflammation has calmed down.

"It's a little sore after a good practice but I can recover for the next day which I wasn't able to do prior to this, which is good.

"After Sawgrass it was a week and a half before I picked up a club but the past five or six days I've been going at it pretty good.

"It could have been anything, the worst case scenario was a bulging disc, but the MRI just showed a lot of inflammation which has since calmed down."