World number one golfer set for mad dash to make Mayweather-Pacquiao fight

World number one golfer Rory McIlroy has tickets for Saturday's superfight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, but will be cutting it fine to make it on time.

Mayweather and Pacquiao - regarded as the two best pound-for-pound boxers on the planet - will finally face off after years of speculation and conjecture at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

McIlroy is playing the WGC Cadillac World Match Play at Harding Park in San Francisco this week and, should he make it to the quarter-finals, will face a race against time to get to Vegas.

"I always said if these two guys fought each other, I wouldn't miss the opportunity to go," he said.

"Luckily, we're somewhere close, and hopefully I'm still part of this tournament at that time, but it just wasn't an opportunity that I was going to miss."

The schedule at the World Match Play sees the competitors play twice a day, meaning McIlroy could still be on course at 6pm (local time).

With low traffic, it is a 20-minute drive from Harding Park to San Francisco International Airport, and a 90-minute flight from the Bay Area to Vegas, making it unlikely that McIlroy - even with the benefit of a private jet - will arrive for the scheduled 8pm start.

But the four-time major winner has a plan to finish the match-play game that can be wrapped up after as little as 10 holes early.

He added: "It's nothing a few quick birdies won't change, if I try and win 7 and 6!"