If Rory McIlroy has stirred up a bit of controversy heading into the Tour Championship, he doesn’t seem too worried about it.

Earlier in the week, the world’s No. 1 golfer suggested that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are heading into the twilight of their illustrious careers. It seemed like a reasonable comment -- but also one destined to generate response.

McIlroy stood by his statement on the eve of the tournament, which begins Thursday.

“Golfers on average have a 20-25 year career, both into the back 9 of their careers,” he tweeted. “Don’t think there’s anything wrong with saying that.”


The Tour Championship begins at 8:45 a.m. PDT. McIlroy was scheduled to tee off with Bubba Watson at 10:50 with Chris Kirk and Billy Horschel following as the last pairing shortly thereafter.

The top-five ranked golfers in the FedEx Cup playoffs -- which also includes Hunter Mahan -- are assured of grabbing the year-end $10-million bonus with a victory in Atlanta.