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• Woods is the GOAT, not Nicklaus – McIlroy

  Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer of all time despite having won fewer majors than Jack Nicklaus.

  That is the firm view of Rory McIlroy, who declared a clear winner in the longest-running debate in the sport.

  Nicklaus won 18 majors between 1962 and 1986, with Woods' 2019 Masters success moving him to 15 after an 11-year wait.

  However, McIlroy cited Woods' 82 PGA Tour wins – nine more than his compatriot – as proof of the 43-year-old's greater consistency.

  "In the history of our game no one has played better golf than Tiger Woods," McIlroy told the Golf Channel's Morning Drive show.

  "When you look – 2000, 2001, that whole stretch – no one has played the calibre of golf that he played then.

  "That's why I think he is the best player to ever live, because no one reached the levels that he did. In my estimation, he is the best to ever do it.

  "I think it's the relentlessness. Back in those years I was talking about – nine wins, and then the next year it would be 10 wins, then the next year it would be eight wins. It was just year after year of relentless excellence.

  "I think his 82 PGA Tour events that he's won is nearly more impressive than the 15 majors. The motivation to get up every morning and say, 'Yep, I'm going to keep on this journey, keep dominating people' – and he's still doing it.”

  Woods needs one more PGA Tour victory to claim the outright record tally, with Sam Snead having won the same number. 

• McIlroy: People like to kick Reed when he's down

  Rory McIlroy has sympathy for the under-fire Patrick Reed and claimed people like to "kick him when he's down" after the American was penalised for improving his lie at the Hero World Challenge. 

  Reed, who was hit with a two-stroke penalty, insists it was not his intention to break the rules when he brushed the sand twice during practice swings from the bunker.

  Golf's rules state that players cannot improve their ability to play a shot by "removing or pressing down sand or loose soil".

  While McIlroy conceded the punishment was necessary, he felt the 2018 Masters champion had been given a particularly rough time.

  "I don't think it would be a big deal if it wasn't Patrick Reed," the four-time major winner told the Golf Channel's Morning Drive show. 

  "It's almost like, a lot of people within the game, it’s almost like a hobby to sort of kick him when he's down."

  Reed pleaded his case by saying he could not feel his club hit the sand and even went as far as to suggest the camera angle had made the incident look worse than it was.

  McIlroy added: "I think the live shot isn't as incriminating as the slow-mo. It's hard, because you try to give the player the benefit of the doubt, right? He's in there, he's trying to figure out what way to play the shot.

  "It's almost like it's obliviousness to it rather than anything intentful, in terms of trying to get away with anything.

  "It doesn't make it right what he did."

• Kyle Gregg dominates Richard Stewart Memorial Rally, defends title

  Kyle Gregg said he could not have asked for a better ending to the year following his dominating victory on the weekend in the Richard Stewart Memorial Rally Jamaica in Bog Walk St Catherine.