Bet on 2013: Tiger vs. Rory

Depends on the weather - Rors has proven several times this year that he can go low for 4 rounds on soggy, relatively open courses without wind. When a course is defenseless, put your money on the boy.

Give me weather, and give me Tiger.

For me my money would be on Tiger as I feels he is a better all rounder in all weather condition. Now if only his putts will get into the hole........

It could go either way, but I'll take Rory. He's at the top of is game and getting better. Tiger can be injury prone which could cut into his earnings.

Rory Mcilroy all the way, he will become the new face of golf.  I may be overstepping a bit, but I think he will shatter Tigers records (not taking the accomplishments away from Tiger, im a huge fan of him also).  Rory has such a textbook swing, its pretty much flawless, and every week he has more and more confidence to go along with the sheer talent he has, isnt that how tiger did it?  Tiger had a mental edge over everyone, now Rory has a mental edge over everyone, they know that hes capable of winning a tournament by 7 strokes, hes proven it once, he can do it again.

I think Tiger will be dominant next season.  I'd put my $ on him.  The best thing about Rory coming to life on Tour - is that it gives Tiger another reason to put in the time in the gym, range and course tuning his game.  He will be ready to pounce next season.

Sorry but i have to disagree when you say Mcilroy's swing is flawless, and especially when you say that he'll shatter Tiger's records.

Mcilroy drops his hands way behind him in transition, and to compensate for this, his hands separate from his body quite a bit in the takeaway. Also he has a very open clubface at the top, punch elbow, CF release, not bad things necessarily, just movements and positions that could catch up to him when he gets a little older and he can't compensate with his tremendous hip speed and balance.. Obviously i'm nitpicking, but in my opinion, Tiger's swing, technically, is superior. I'm not doubting that Rory is a tremendous ball striker, i just think that his swing does rely on little too much timing, hence why he can go through patches like he did mid way through this year, when he struggles.

My main issue with your post is how you say that Mcilroy will 'shatter Tiger's records,' in my opinion people are forgetting way too fast how good Tiger was, and still is for that matter. What he did, literally changed the game, ratings spiked, courses were redesigned etc. There is a wonderful post on this that explains the comparison really well.

My personal opinion is that Tiger and Rory will tussle it out for the next 5 or 6 years, until Tiger slowly phases out of the picture. However, what a lot of people are forgetting is that back in the early 2000's, the rest of the tour saw what Tiger was doing and lifted their games, I believe this is what will happen again as Tiger and Rory start to pull away from the pack.

I voted for Tiger, but I think it will be close.

Reasons: I doubt that McIlroy can sustain his current form into next year. He can be very streaky (4 missed cuts in 5 events between two good runs at the start and the end of the season). Add to that the fact that McIlroy struggles on hard and fast courses. Woods on the other hand was somewhat consistent through the season and steadily got better. If he stays injury free during the off season he can work out the last little problems he has and become a real threat next year.

I can easily see both of them winning 4 times or more again and get a major along the way, but I guess the consistency decides in favor of Woods.

Ah, this old chestnut, presented as indisputable fact.  Both the Honda and the PGA were played on wet courses, but in big wind - the PGA in particular was played in sometimes horrible conditions, as evidenced by the fact that Rory bettered the average score on Friday by 3 shots having shot 75.  Rory won at Quail Hollow on a hard course with lightning fast greens, and he led the Masters by 4 after 54 holes in fast conditions, before inexperience got to him off the tee.   Some guys are hanging on to this myth like a drowning man holding on to a lifebuoy.

It's not a textbook swing, it's one of the most controversial swings of the better players on the PGA. I'm not saying it's bad but it's not a swing you could just copy without having a lot of problems and to make many compensations. He does his compensations well that's why he hit the ball well.

About the Mcilroy vs Tiger I voted Tiger. As some said above he is more consistent and eventhough he hasn't won any major this year his name has been a lot on the leaderboard and he has been close many times. McIlroy is good now but his form hasn't been good whole season like Tigers has.

Tiger, I think he is back and looking to make that run to retake #1 in the world and surpass Jack's major record.  Rory has had a fantastic year and while there is no evidence that he will falter, other than Tiger, no one in recent history has followed up a career year with a second career year.  If Rory proves he can win 4 or 5 times next year, even without a major, then I think we might have the next great golfer, but that is yet to be determined.

I have no clue at all.  I have also noticed that almost all of Rory's wins have come on soaked up target golf courses.  I think Tiger will be even better next year than he was this year so for Rory to beat him, he would have to have a 5-6 win season.  I don't know if he can do that, but I wouldn't be surprised.

It will be close with a slight edge to Tiger.  Nothing motivates him like competition and desire to be the best.  Now that the pieces of his game are coming back together he will have several wins next year, including a major.

I'll take the Irishman.

Tiger's mental makeup is probably such that he's taking Rory's play of late as an extreme challenge to pick up his game.  I see him getting completely comfortable with Foley's swing changes and taking back #1 in the OWGR next year.  I look forward to seeing them battle it out, though.  I think that McIlroy is the best thing that could have happened to Tiger's game.

I agree with this (and the several others above that said the same)  Tiger seems to have been really close this year and inching his closer and closer.  I see a pretty big year coming for Tiger next year.  And just for fun (and so I can be laughed at in a year), lets say ...

5 wins, 1 major, #1 world ranking, fedex cup, player of the year.