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Tiger tells Rory to pull his finger out of his a**

Rory McIlroy is still to find his best form with his new clubs © Getty Images

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Rory McIlroy has revealed he received a frank text message from Tiger Woods telling him to 'pull his finger out of his a**'.

As well as being the big rivalry in golf, along with sharing the same sponsor, McIlroy and Woods have formed a bond. Text messages were exchanged following Woods' win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational that took him back above McIlroy to world No. 1 and the content got straight to the point.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the Shell Houston Open, McIlroy said: "I texted him and said 'well done'. I hadn't spoken to him in a couple weeks. Just congratulated him and stuff as well and he said everything was good there. He told me to get my finger out of my a** and win this week."

Commenting on his relationship with Woods, McIlroy replied: "It's sort of developed more over the last couple of years, I guess playing more together in tournaments and spending more time around each other. But it's been good. I enjoy his company. He gives me a lot of grief and I try to give him some back but it's good. He's fun to be around."

While Woods has won three times this year to reclaim the top spot in golf, McIlroy has had a torrid time on the course since his multi-million pound switch to Nike.

There were green shoots of recovery with a final round 65 at Doral, following a couple of missed cuts and a first round exit at the World Match Play, and McIlroy feels his game is heading in the right direction.

"The things that I'm trying to work on are definitely becoming a lot more comfortable," he said. "I've seen enough good signs. The weekend at Doral was great and the way I've been hitting the ball recently. I've just got to keep working on it but I definitely feel like it's going in the right direction.

"It feels pretty good. The last competitive round I played was the last day at Doral and I shot 65. It felt like I saw a got of good things there. It's been going well in practice and obviously it's a lot different out on the course but I definitely saw some good signs at Doral and looking forward to getting back and playing this competitive course this week.

A win this week would take McIlroy back to world No. 1 but his focus is on getting his game back in shape.

"It's always nice to say that you're on top of the world and top of the rankings but if you play the golf that you want to and win the tournaments that you want to, then that takes care of itself," McIlroy said. "It doesn't really bother me. I want to get back to getting into contention in tournaments and trying to win. I think this is a good week to try and get into contention and be - you know, have a chance with the Masters coming up but, yeah, I mean I'm just really focused on this week in Houston and trying to play well here."

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