Rory McIlroy: 'better than Tiger Woods'

[RichF]

'Rory McIlroy is 'better than Tiger Woods'
It was the greatest of compliments, but potentially the heaviest of millstones to have been placed around the young neck of Rory McIlroy, professional golf’s teenage phenomenon. Better than Tiger Woods at the same age? Yessir! Absolutely!

Such opinions could generally be confined to the bin. But when they come from the likes of Mark O’Meara — twice a major champion, a friend and one-time mentor of the world No 1 — it is worth taking notice.
O’Meara played alongside McIlroy in the fog-curtailed first round of the Dubai Desert Classic yesterday and was mightily impressed with what he saw. And no wonder. The Northern Irishman, displaying a maturity beyond his 19 years, had an eight-under-par round of 64 that included nine birdies and gave him a one-stroke advantage over Robert Karlsson, of Sweden, at the top of the leaderboard.
Afterwards O’Meara was effusive in his praise for a youngster who has already climbed into the top 40 in the world and is preparing for his Masters debut in April. His progress is picking up speed and there is no knowing where it will end.
“Ball-striking wise, Rory is probably better than Tiger was at that age,” O’Meara said. “ His technique is better. Certainly Tiger has developed his game and modified his swing over the years to be able to hit the ball pin-high, but Rory is already doing that at 19. He’s kind of a step ahead. I’ve witnessed Tiger at that age and have played a lot with Anthony Kim in the past two years, and Rory’s got all the tools to become an extremely dominant player in this game. His technique is extremely good.
He hits it far enough, he is very composed and he has a great short game. I can’t see any weaknesses or why he can’t win many major championships. It’s hard to compare anyone with Tiger because of his mind and heart, but certainly Rory has those qualities, there’s no denying [that]. He shot eight under today but it looked pretty easy.”

For McIlroy, it was an equal thrill to play alongside the 1998 Masters and Open champion. He used to travel across to Wentworth to watch the World Match Play Championship and recalled the time, in 1999, that the American lost to Colin Montgomerie in the final, yet signed his ball and gave it to McIlroy to keep. “I’ve still got it,” he said.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...cle5614870.ece



I watched his 3rd round at Dubai this morning and he's come on leaps and bounds since I first saw him at The Open at Carnoustie in 2007.
His swing is definately 'Woods-esque' circa, 1997-2002.
Mind you, having similar/better mechanics is one thing. but we all know Woods is miles ahead of everyone else mentally.

[kafka01]

I dont like these kinds of predictions - they have failed so often in the past. I saw his play and certainly he is on a solid way to win his first victory tomorrow but what kind of success/titles the future will bring for him, only time will tell. There are a lot of young players out there with huge potential to grab Tigers crown at least from the technical point of view, but what it will come down to as you already said is the mental side, and thats something only can develop/proof over the time.

[PiKapp23]

At this point it is probably better that he is playing in Europe instead of coming to US tour. I have watched him play several times on the European Tour coverage on The Golf Channel and he is definitely a very good player, but he still needs a little time to 'polish' his game. The pressure seems to be less in Europe than in US on these type of young prodigies. I hope he can be the player that can push Tiger in a year or so (like Nicklaus was for Palmer and Watson was for Nicklaus). If he plays well in the majors this year, it might be time for him to start considering playing in US (at least part-time like many of the European stars do).

[RocketSauce]

he is an awesome player, no doubt. did anyone see where he (almost) drove his ball into the group ahead of them on the par 5 18th? wow! par 5, driver, 7 iron (could've hit an 8)....unbelievable

[RichF]

he is an awesome player, no doubt. did anyone see where he (almost) drove his ball into the group ahead of them on the par 5 18th? wow! par 5, driver, 7 iron (could've hit an 8)....unbelievable

Yeah that was just about perfect: 315yd drive, a 195yd 6-iron approach and the 25ft putt to top the leaderboard with an -8 under 64.

Just have to see how he copes on the 4th day after his hiccups late last year...

[kafka01]

Yeah that was just about perfect: 315yd drive, a 195yd 6-iron approach and the 25ft putt to top the leaderboard with an -8 under 64.

Yeah - saw this shot, just think of it, he is only 180 and 80kg so not heavy on muscle or very tall and still can hit it almost as far in his driving distance as Garcia.

Guess there is hope for all of us?

[bogeyhitter25]

It's really fun to watch McIlory play. He hits some amazing shots.

[Guinness23]

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't O'Meara say this about somebody else late last year? Like Anthony Kim or something? Is he just trying to get in the news? Maybe on one person, but to say that about 2? I like Mark but enouhg already....

[uttexas]

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't O'Meara say this about somebody else late last year? Like Anthony Kim or something? Is he just trying to get in the news? Maybe on one person, but to say that about 2? I like Mark but enouhg already....

Mark is very close to Tiger and probably knows him better than most. I think he is (not so subtly) trying to motivate Tiger by saying how great the youngsters are.

As far as how good the Irish lad is, he is 19 and as we saw Tiger's and Phil's bodies change in their late twenties. We'll see which way Rory's body changes (for the better or worse). We'll also see what kind of consistency and mental toughness he has.

[PiustheDrGolf]

I also can see those guys (Anthony Kim and Rory McIlroy) are better than Tiger was at the same age. They have grown while watching how Tiger had became the #1. Although people say time and experiences are key to shape their mental side of golf, it will be much sooner then they expected. Within 3 years maybe?

[hawkeye]

Time will tell.

He sure can play but we won't know for a long time if he's the next Tiger.

And it looks like he's ripping the field up in Dubai, 5 ahead with 5 to play, plenty of WR points going abegging, and looking to make Masters debut in a couple of months. Can't wait.

[MSDOGS1976]

I think Mark, being a nice guy, sometimes just goes overboard with his praise for a young guy. I do think Roy is a very good player, but comapring him to Tiger is a stretch. Not sure I would want that praise as it puts a lot of pressure on you to live up to it.

[PGA TOUR 2010]

At the age of 19 yes Rory is better then Tiger.

[golf_junkie27]

He won today (shaky finish but brilliant up and down) and happened to do so wire to wire over a tremendous field. 93 players in the field had won at least one tournament and he's now ranked 15th in the world. Six of the players that finished in the top 15 were on the last Ryder Cup. This kid can flat out played.

On another note, it was great to see the reaction between him and his father. Damn, being a dad has made me mushy.

[golfire6]

The comparison is apples to oranges , IMO ... Rory is playing almost all of his golf in Europe , which is a different ( and not as deep ) a tour as the PGA tour . Plus , Tiger wasn't a pro at 19 -- he took a different path . Who knows what he would have done if he turned pro earlier ? No one knows that answer -- I only know that when he did turn pro , he didn't have too many hiccups in his run to the top ... -- K.

[leec]

How many wins did Monti have in Europe verses wins in the U.S.A. Let McIlroy come over here and play a few and then compare.

[JaY_B]

He won today (shaky finish but brilliant up and down) and happened to do so wire to wire over a tremendous field. 93 players in the field had won at least one tournament and he's now

14th according to BBC IIRC.

[lordnazgul]

So he won in europe, the "inferior tour" yet the field was probably the best field seen in the world this year, the current playing world number 1 was there, including world class players such as paul casey, henrik stenson, robert karlsson, lee westwood and justin rose, most of which came in the top 15 of the tournament and yet he still has to prove himself as a player??

Would you be saying differently if he had won the FBR where phil mickelson and geoff ogilvy were the two best in the field, and mickelson missed the cut by a country mile?

As far as im concerned winning the Dubai championship (which Tiger woods won last year) is as good an achievement as winning most if not all PGA tour events, and is probably just shy of the players, and WGC's.

But getting back on topic, i feel that this statement is not being read in it's correct light, Mark Omeara said Rory's BALL STRIKING was beeter than Woods was at 19, more than ,ikely true as Woods often said himself that at that age he was out of control and just trying to bomb it as far as possible every time. Rory's mental game and putting game at this age though is no comparison to Tigers was, however i dont think there can be much argument that he is a great talent and someone who is more than likely to do extremely well in the future and probably win majors!