Rory McIlroy the new face of golf?

[GaijinGolfer]

Sorry, Tiger is still the face of golf.  Outside of golf, people have no idea who Rory McIlroy is.

[MSchott]

Originally Posted by TitleistWI

Sorry, Tiger is still the face of golf.  Outside of golf, people have no idea who Rory McIlroy is.

This. To serious golf fans Rory is the young gun who may rise to be the best in the world for a long time. For everyone else, Tiger Woods is by far the most recognized name in the game and that makes him the face of golf. Rory has a long, long way to go to be in the same class as a player as Tiger but he's quite young so we shall see. He seems like a good guy and of course is a great golfer.

[club ho]

No doubt Rory shows the most talent of the new talent on the tour. THe last ten tournaments show his ability to dominate the field. add to that his ability to twice overcome a tough mMasters to totally dominate the US Open and this week after getting beat by Hunter Mayhem and cruising to victory and getting his number one title. Now we do IMO have to think that Tiger took just as much out of this last weeks tourney with the final round 62 which included a phenomenal eagle on 18. As far as I am concerned golf is the real winner with all this talent seeming to peak.Can not wait till this weeks Doral.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by TitleistWI

Sorry, Tiger is still the face of golf.  Outside of golf, people have no idea who Rory McIlroy is.

Probably true for a lot of sports. I've been told "GSP" (George St. Pierre or something or other) is currently the most recognizable Canadian athlete internationally, but I have no idea what he looks like.

[newtogolf]

Guess you're not a fan of mixed martial arts or the UFC.

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Probably true for a lot of sports. I've been told "GSP" (George St. Pierre or something or other) is currently the most recognizable Canadian athlete internationally, but I have no idea what he looks like.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by newtogolf

Guess you're not a fan of mixed martial arts or the UFC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Probably true for a lot of sports. I've been told "GSP" (George St. Pierre or something or other) is currently the most recognizable Canadian athlete internationally, but I have no idea what he looks like.

Just saying he's probably the face of a sport, at least in Canada, and I couldn't pick him out of a lineup.

[GaijinGolfer]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Probably true for a lot of sports. I've been told "GSP" (George St. Pierre or something or other) is currently the most recognizable Canadian athlete internationally, but I have no idea what he looks like.

Exactly my point though.  Everyone knows who Tiger is and has known who he is for many years.  Rory and GSP, not so much.

[Beachcomber]

Tiger Woods for Golf is like Muhammad Ali for Boxing, or Michael Jordan for Basketball.  Recognized as one of the all time greats in their respective sports.

Rory McIlroy is a fresh face that golf fans recognize.  But he isn't anywhere near being as recognizable by folks that don't watch golf as Tiger Woods is.  My wife still calls Rory the 'curly haired kid'.  But she only knows him because I watch golf.  The average person would have no clue who he is.

[zipazoid]

So...are we defining someone as 'The face of golf' based on their recognizability by non-golfers?

If so, then yeah, Tiger is still the face of golf since the average Joe wouldn't recognize hardly any other pro.

But that's not my definition. I say Rory is the new face of golf speaking as an avid golfer based on his ability he has displayed over the past year. He had the Saturday night lead at the Masters, blew away the field at the US Open (and set a scoring record), and just this last week took Tiger's Sunday best and still beat him.

Who else has recently done that?

So okay. If this is going to be based on what the non-golfer believes is a recognizable face, fine. But I don't view it that way.

[mtsalmela80]

OK so we are going to pick tournament winners now not by the lowest score, but by the player that shows the greatest improvement.

Originally Posted by club ho

No doubt Rory shows the most talent of the new talent on the tour. THe last ten tournaments show his ability to dominate the field. add to that his ability to twice overcome a tough mMasters to totally dominate the US Open and this week after getting beat by Hunter Mayhem and cruising to victory and getting his number one title. Now we do IMO have to think that Tiger took just as much out of this last weeks tourney with the final round 62 which included a phenomenal eagle on 18. As far as I am concerned golf is the real winner with all this talent seeming to peak.Can not wait till this weeks Doral.

[MSchott]

Originally Posted by zipazoid

So...are we defining someone as 'The face of golf' based on their recognizability by non-golfers?

If so, then yeah, Tiger is still the face of golf since the average Joe wouldn't recognize hardly any other pro.

But that's not my definition. I say Rory is the new face of golf speaking as an avid golfer based on his ability he has displayed over the past year. He had the Saturday night lead at the Masters, blew away the field at the US Open (and set a scoring record), and just this last week took Tiger's Sunday best and still beat him.

Who else has recently done that?

So okay. If this is going to be based on what the non-golfer believes is a recognizable face, fine. But I don't view it that way.

But that's like saying that Kevin Durant is the new face of the NBA as his team is the best at this moment. No, Kobe Bryant is the face of the league (or possibly Lebron James) as he has had tremendous success over a long period. Rory has won one major and has been hot in the last month or so. He has the most potential of any young player to become the face of golf.

[dsc123]

I think it will be Tiger until he stops playing regularly on tour.

Who is the face of the New York Yankees?  Derek Jeter.  And he will be until he retires.  It doesn't matter that he's the 5th or 6th best hitter in the lineup right now.  Its about lifetime accomplishments.

Tiger's got what, 14 majors to Rory's 1?  How long will it take him to get to half of tiger's number?  4 years? 6 years?  10 years?  Maybe never?  And that's half.

As long as Tiger is competitive and playing regularly, he will be the face of the sport.  Maybe even longer.

[club ho]

Originally Posted by mtsalmela80

OK so we are going to pick tournament winners now not by the lowest score, but by the player that shows the greatest improvement.

sorry if I gave you that impression. I thought that Rory won last week because he had the lowest score. TIger IMO got a huge boost with his lowest final round score of his career. I don't see where I was using the argument of most improved player being the judgement of who won a golf tournament as you suggest?

[AmazingWhacker]

Originally Posted by Wansteadimp

I agree this is what the PGA wants, it really p!sses me off. They should pick the golfers that are good (winning things) rather than the best clothes model, Rickie in the covered groups every week, no sign of Webb Simpson anywhere.

Originally Posted by newtogolf

I'm fine with Rory as the new face of golf, though I don't think he's going to take the reigns as "the face" of golf from Tiger just yet.  I also think the PGA brass would like to see Fowler in the mix more as the new face.  Fowlers clothing style and X-Games hobbies are better geared towards the youth market which they are trying to attract to the sport.

I completely agree re Fowler and am glad other people notice it,too.  Fowler is quickly becoming a parody of himself.

The thing is, before Tiger Woods, there was no "Face of Golf" . .at least not like we're talking about in this thread.  Then Tiger came along and made golf a huge deal.  Now with Tiger's issues, the PGA Tour and golf media are scrambling for a replacement and will pretty much name anybody who wins even 1 tournament "The Next Face of Golf".

Unless, of course, they are plain looking.  Some golfers have to win multiple times to even get a mention while others (like Rickie Fowler) have freaking commercials made about them that make pretty much no sense ("he could've been a motocross star but he chose to be a golf star" and I don't even know what to think about the smashing oranges one).

The PGA is treading on some dangerous ground by marketing players in this way.  They are sort of taking credibility away from the game.  They look silly and desperate in thier attempts to find "The New Tiger Woods" . .but there just isn't one and you can't manufacture one.  The next great one will come along when he comes along.

Rory McIlroy is definitely not the face of golf and will not be the face of golf unless he dominates pro golf for a period of years.  My non-golfing co-workers do know who Rory is . . but they call him "that Irish kid" . .so he is on his way for sure but not there yet.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by AmazingWhacker

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wansteadimp

I agree this is what the PGA wants, it really p!sses me off. They should pick the golfers that are good (winning things) rather than the best clothes model, Rickie in the covered groups every week, no sign of Webb Simpson anywhere.

Quote:

Originally Posted by newtogolf

I'm fine with Rory as the new face of golf, though I don't think he's going to take the reigns as "the face" of golf from Tiger just yet.  I also think the PGA brass would like to see Fowler in the mix more as the new face.  Fowlers clothing style and X-Games hobbies are better geared towards the youth market which they are trying to attract to the sport.

I completely agree re Fowler and am glad other people notice it,too.  Fowler is quickly becoming a parody of himself.

The thing is, before Tiger Woods, there was no "Face of Golf" . .at least not like we're talking about in this thread.  Then Tiger came along and made golf a huge deal.  Now with Tiger's issues, the PGA Tour and golf media are scrambling for a replacement and will pretty much name anybody who wins even 1 tournament "The Next Face of Golf".

Unless, of course, they are plain looking.  Some golfers have to win multiple times to even get a mention while others (like Rickie Fowler) have freaking commercials made about them that make pretty much no sense ("he could've been a motocross star but he chose to be a golf star" and I don't even know what to think about the smashing oranges one).

The PGA is treading on some dangerous ground by marketing players in this way.  They are sort of taking credibility away from the game.  They look silly and desperate in thier attempts to find "The New Tiger Woods" . .but there just isn't one and you can't manufacture one.  The next great one will come along when he comes along.

Rory McIlroy is definitely not the face of golf and will not be the face of golf unless he dominates pro golf for a period of years.  My non-golfing co-workers do know who Rory is . . but they call him "that Irish kid" . .so he is on his way for sure but not there yet.

That's a joke, right? Before Tiger there were no "threads" where golf was being discussed 24/7. Back in my day, there were clearly icons, but there were typically other players who didn't choke every Sunday. Palmer and Nicklaus clearly were the face of golf in their heyday. When I first watched golf on television you were most likely either a Watson or Ballesteros guy, but Jack was still the face of the game.

A lot of relatively bland guys (other than Norman and Daly) shared the limelight until Tiger, but maybe that's why people question the depth of the fields in Tigers era - who are those great players?

[Wansteadimp]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

That's a joke, right? Before Tiger there were no "threads" where golf was being discussed 24/7. Back in my day, there were clearly icons, but there were typically other players who didn't choke every Sunday. Palmer and Nicklaus clearly were the face of golf in their heyday. When I first watched golf on television you were most likely either a Watson or Ballesteros guy, but Jack was still the face of the game.

A lot of relatively bland guys (other than Norman and Daly) shared the limelight until Tiger, but maybe that's why people question the depth of the fields in Tigers era - who are those great players?

The only threads before Tiger were the awful clothes on display, but then that was pre the internet as we know it now. Which makes me feel incredibly old.

But you are right lots of the people named above and others were huge icons of the game. None were ever as big as Tiger due to the global reach of the internet and the 24/7 nature of sports coverage now. Golf was a very successful sport which made lots of people rich before Tiger and it will after he has gone. Just not as many and not as rich.

[newtogolf]

I heard Rory's interview today on XM, he did a great job handling all the Tiger questions.  The sports "journalists" asked ridiculous questions like where was he when Tiger won his first Major, the guy is 22, do we really care what a 7-8 year old was doing when Tiger won the Masters?  He also had a great answer about being rivals with Tiger, basically said he doesn't believe in rivalries, that he's there to play the course and score as low as he can, the course is his rival, not other golfers.  He comes off as a really nice kid that's grateful for the opportunity to live out his dream as the worlds #1 golfer.  I just hope the spotlight and fame doesn't get to his head and he ends up going Hollywood.

[jhwmusic]

Originally Posted by newtogolf

I heard Rory's interview today on XM, he did a great job handling all the Tiger questions.  The sports "journalists" asked ridiculous questions like where was he when Tiger won his first Major, the guy is 22, do we really care what a 7-8 year old was doing when Tiger won the Masters?  He also had a great answer about being rivals with Tiger, basically said he doesn't believe in rivalries, that he's there to play the course and score as low as he can, the course is his rival, not other golfers.  He comes off as a really nice kid that's grateful for the opportunity to live out his dream as the worlds #1 golfer.  I just hope the spotlight and fame doesn't get to his head and he ends up going Hollywood.

it was kind of a stupid question but I will almost guarantee Rory was watching that Masters in 1997.  Rory was already well known as golf prodigy by that age and competing.  He actually won the World Championships in 9-10 age division at Doral of all places.  Go figure!   So technically, Rory has already won at Doral!  ha ha!

And great answer by Rory...remind you of someone else?  Tiger would always say that...which explains why him winning his first major by 12 shots.  Remind you of someone else winning their first major in similar fashion?