World no.1 Rory McIlroy has played down his building rivalry with Jordan Spieth ahead of the Players Championship.
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The Northern Irishman was quick to dismiss a potential rivalry with the youngster, saying his closest rival changed from year to year.
“Not really, because it’s been … like last year it was Rickie (Fowler), this year it’s Jordan, it might be someone else, could have been Tiger,” McIlroy is quoted as saying by Reuters.
“There’s been four or five rivalries over the past year so it doesn’t really do anything for me.
“I don’t think I need any extra incentive to get the juices flowing this week. It’s one of the most important tournaments of the year.”
McIlroy was not being dismissive of Spieth’s achievements, after all, the American became the second youngest man in history to win the prestigious Masters event last month.
However, Spieth dropped further away from McIlroy in the world rankings after the world no.1 triumphed at the WGC-Cadillac Match Play last week and the 21-year-old says he has a long way to go before he challenges McIlroy for top spot.
“I could certainly appreciate if I could get to where he’s at, but right now I don’t see myself there,” he said.
“There’s a lot of hard work that needs to be had to get there, and once I am there it’s certainly a huge goal of mine to make it interesting with him and possibly take over number one.”
Spieth has won just the one major in his career in comparison to McIlroy’s four, but is five years his junior.
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