WHEN it comes to Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy is a walking Wikipedia, only more accurate.

The 19-year-old can recite the minutiae of Woods' life as easily as most golfers do the details of their last rounds. It is as if collecting every piece of trivia about Woods is McIlroy's way of following his trail to greatness.

On Monday, McIlroy, the youngest man to crack the world's top-20 rankings, was asked if he knew what Woods was doing at the same age.

'Well, he was at Stanford,' the 17th-ranked McIlroy said, correctly. 'And he won a US Amateur.'

Right again. In 1995, Woods defeated Buddy Marucci in the final to win his second of three consecutive US Amateur titles.

McIlroy, who is seeded fourth in Woods' bracket in this week's Accenture Match Play Championship, then volunteered the names of the golfers Woods beat in the finals to win his first and third crowns.

Seemingly, the only question about his idol that McIlroy could not answer on Monday was the one on most fans' lips: 'Where is he?'

People hoping to catch their first glimpse in eight months of Woods swinging a club began arriving at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, the site of the event, an hour and a half before sunrise.

The expectation was that Woods, who has been sidelined because of a knee injury that required reconstructive surgery after he won the US Open last June, would play a practice round early, as is his habit.

The course hosting this year's event only opened last month, rendering it a mystery even to Woods, the defending champion.

Rumour

A rumour was circulating the grounds that he would tee off around 8am, and it stood to reason he would be eager to see as much of the course as he could before opening the defence of his title against Australian Brendan Jones.

For the fans who came hoping to catch a glimpse of Woods, the trek did not have to be a total loss.

To follow McIlroy in the early afternoon as he played the back nine of the course at Dove Mountain, was to feel the same dizzying rush of promise that Woods enkindled during his climb to golf's summit.

On No. 15, a 343-yard par-four, McIlroy's tee-shot came to rest less than 15 yards from the green. The volunteer marshal at the hole said it was easily the longest drive he had seen.

Whereas most of the pros were hitting multiple shots onto the undulating greens, McIlroy, who is from Northern Ireland, seldom hit more than one. His approach shots were landing so close to the pin, there seemed little reason to play more than one.

On the par-four 17th, McIlroy hit a shot out of a fairway bunker that struck the flagstick and came to rest six feet from the hole.

'Obviously, I'm coming in here with quite a good bit of form,' said the young man, who has one victory, two seconds, a third and four other top-10 finishes in his last 12 European Tour events.

McIlroy, who turns 20 in May, has a game that Woods' good friend Mark O'Meara recently described as more advanced than Woods' at the same age.

'There's no reason why he can't win a Major championship,' O'Meara said.

His observation came at last month's Dubai Desert Classic, which McIlroy claimed for his first European Tour title.

The first time he played the event in Dubai, three years ago, McIlroy finished his round, then borrowed a photographer's bib and dangled a camera from his neck so he could follow Woods' round from inside the ropes.

This week McIlroy, who plays 13th-seeded Louis Oosthuizen in the first round, is on course to meet Woods in the third.

'We'll have to see how it goes,' McIlroy said. 'But, yeah, obviously it would be a dream come true for me to be able to meet Tiger.

'And just to play with him or against him, that would be great to do.'

AP