Saturday 20 February 2016 13:36, UK
Nick Dougherty discusses the misconceptions about Rory McIlroy's training regime and looks back on an impressive start to the week at Riviera for the world No 3.
The main reason for all of this injury talk is a bit of a misunderstanding to be honest and the problem is the link to Tiger Woods.
People see Woods as someone who has trained really hard and see that Rory's doing the same and has changed the way he looks, so assume the same is going to happen injury-wise. That isn't the case - they have two completely different body types and are two guys who are achieving completely different things.
We saw Woods change his body type over the years, as he went from being a really slender guy who hit the ball an absolute miles to someone with huge amount of mass on his body. It changed the way he played and he actually hit the ball shorter and picked up lots of injuries since.
Brandel Chamblee is a player from a different generation who is a very well respected pundit in the golfing world, but he criticised what Rory was doing and linked it to Tiger when they're so different.
What McIlroy's doing is building functional movement and a lot of that is helping him to develop his ballistic power. We're seeing him doing lots of squatting and huge amounts of weights as well, which allows him to transfer more energy through his body and in to the club and golf ball.
He's one of the longest hitters in the game and you have to say since Rory McIlroy started training, it's had the opposite effect to what it had with Tiger Woods.
"You have to say since Rory McIlroy started training, it's had the opposite effect to what it had with Tiger Woods."
McIlroy hits the ball a lot further and more importantly to Rory having spoken to him is that he's staying injury-free. He used to have a bad back before he started to change his physique.
He has been working really hard on his fitness, both in his training and in what he eats as well, and since he has made these changes his game has improved.
He won his first major the year he started this sort of training, so the decisions about his routine and gym work have all been backed up by great results.
Strong start
McIlroy played great today and when we spoke to him he was really happy with his first round performance. He worked hard on his golf swing in the off-season and he's in great form heading in to five of the next six tournaments.
It's his first time here at Riviera but he loves the golf course. He feels great about his chances this week and is desperate to get that world No 1 spot back.
Everyone raves about this place. The golf course is one thing but there's a great amount of history here. It has been around for a long time and some of golf's greats have all won here.
The likes of Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson are all winners here, while the likes of Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson have achieved it in the modern era, so McIlroy wants to add his name to that list on the trophy.
Watch the Northern Trust Open throughout the week on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf
