Woods pat for rising McIlroy

"That was pretty good, wasn't it? That was some seriously good playing," Woods told reporters at the AT&T National PGA event he is hosting this week at Aronimink.

McIlroy set a number of US Open scoring records en route to an eight-shot win on June 19 that recalled Woods's 12-shot triumph at the 1997 Masters as a 21-year-old and the American's 15-shot win at the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach.

"In 1997 when I was, what, 21, granted I had some success, but I didn't like my golf swing. That's why I changed it," the 14-time major winner said when asked to compare himself to McIlroy. "I felt like at the same age, his swing is definitely better than mine was at the same age.

"But in '99 my swing came together and I had a pretty good next two years," Woods said about a period in his career that produced the so-called 'Tiger Slam' in which he held all four major championship titles at the same time.

"He needs to obviously continue working on it and continue getting better. And he's still young.”