Rory McIlroy: 'better than Tiger Woods'

[Neil]

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.

Totally agree. The European tour is far higher quality than many in the US believe (this event in particular).

McIlroy played excellent golf to win against a world class field - his genral play this season has been extremely good and now he has a win under his belt I expect him to go on and claim a few more wins. It could be a great year, Kim, Villegas and McIlroy speareheading a challenge from the new young guns against older establishment names. Everyone know o'Meara is a big friend of Tiger hence every time o'Meara plays with a young player commentators ask him to make comparisons against Woods. It would be impolite of o'Meara not to offer praise to younger players and being the gentleman he is o'Meara is always polite and flatterring. I think McIlroy is a really really exciting payer but he won't win Majors like Tiger - Tiger is on another planet.

[Mr Eagle]

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.

I do believe the young Rory is on his way to the US soon

[Big Padrigo]

I met Rory at Christmas on the way from Heathrow to Belfast. Looked like a very normal teenager and pretty grounded too.

[JaY_B]

I met Rory at Christmas on the way from Heathrow to Belfast. Looked like a very normal teenager and pretty grounded too.

With a stunning girlfriend

[misty_mountainhop]

Better than Tiger? Er...no. Let's revisit this if McIlroy spreadeagles the Masters field by a dozen shots or so on his way to winning it.

[callaweveland]

Better than Tiger? Er...no. Let's revisit this if McIlroy spreadeagles the Masters field by a dozen shots or so on his way to winning it.

Or he comes over here and wins

several tournaments. Frank Nobilo said after McIlroy's win that winning in the US was a much more difficult thing to do. Even greats like Ballasteros and Faldo only had 9 wins apiece here in the US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golfers..._PGA_Tour_wins On the other hand they had many wins on the European tour to their credit. But, Tiger has something like 35 wins on the European tour. Don't get me wrong, I was pulling for McIlroy the whole tournament and every time I get to watch him play I hope he wins. I"m anxious to see what he does this year playing in the US.

[PuterPutter]

These questions are always interesting.

Is Rory better than Tiger Woods? As of today, I say no. He has won only on European tour and nowhere else. Is he talented? Yes. Could he be better than Tiger? Time will tell.

Is Tiger better than Jack Nicklaus? Not yet. He is still 4 majors behind Jack. Also, Jack has won 73 events on the pga and is still behind Sam Snead by 9 events. Tiger has won 65 times.

I think when all things sift out Tiger will probably own all the records. He needs 9 wins to pass Jack and 18 to pass Sam Snead.

I think we have some great golf to watch in the future.

[Quinn07]

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).

I heard watching the Dubai tourney this weekend that North America is going to get a pretty big dose of Mr. McIlroy in the coming tournaments leading up to the masters. I think he could be a great player, but as a number of other responses have stated, the comparison has been drawn so many times and failed, I think it's almost a curse. My answer to the title of the thread is no he's not better than tiger...and I seriously doubt that he ever will be!!

[DeNunzio]

Rory is a stud! But, better than Tiger? C'mon!
Hope they both play at Doral though!!!

[RocketSauce]

Better than Tiger? Er...no. Let's revisit this if McIlroy spreadeagles the Masters field by a dozen shots or so on his way to winning it.

These questions are always interesting.

Rory is a stud! But, better than Tiger? C'mon!

the original quote was Rory is better at 19 than Tiger was when he was 19 ...not is he better than Tiger is NOW.

[kafka01]

Tiger has something like 35 wins on the European tour.

Thats slightly incorrect.

- Tiger Woods has won 35 events sanctioned by the European Tour, most of which were major championships and World Golf Championships events staged in the United States.

[misty_mountainhop]

again, the quote was

So, what we're left with is nothing but a very subjective opinion by one person (O'Meara); albeit that he knows Tiger's game pretty well.

There are many fantastic ball strikers who've done nothing (comparatively) great in their careers. We know that Tiger has it where it matters (i.e. between the ears) but I don't think we can make any judgement on McIlroy who's now won his first event - just about.

[ganjagolfer]

rory is better than tiger, imo, because he is irish, i am also irish

[FortAsel]

[SIZE="2"][SIZE="3"]Mind you, having similar/better mechanics is one thing. but we all know Woods is miles ahead of everyone else mentally.

He said that at the same age, Rory is better than Tiger was. That does not mean that he is as good or better than tiger is nowadays. You see, he will probably give tiger a hard time in majors, as long has he keeps working. I could bet the biggest diamond in the hisory of diamonds that he'll be the best european player ever.

[SubPar]

again, the quote was

I'm not sure on what basis you can say Rory is better than Tiger was at that age. Around that age Tiger had racked up some pretty good stats ( 3 straight Jrs and 3 straight US amateurs), and I believe was in college at 19. As soon as Tiger turned pro in '96 (not yet 21) he started winning. Tiger won twice his first year out as a pro with only 8 starts (he played his first professional event in Sept. '96), then won his first major the following April.

Rory has played a lot on Tour for a young guy and he just got his first win. He's a great player and fun to watch, but it remains to be seen if he has the tenacity to win as consistently as Woods has... at any age. SubPar

[iacas]

He said that at the same age, Rory is better than Tiger was.

He didn't even say that. He said he was a better ball-striker. He didn't comment on his putting, his mental game, his short game, his course management... just his ball striking.

Discussed on the podcast that'll go up in about three hours.

[kafka01]

Havent we seen many of potential "superstars" just losing it over time?
Some tried to tweak their game in some way or another and got their game off balance and never found their way back, others just settled with their mind that there are other things in life than golf after winning tournaments & alot of money.

From the current point of view he sure looks promising but there are so many "if´s" in this equation that you simply cannot predict how he will perform in 10 years from now and if he actually has the ambition to be better than Tiger and the work/grind in him to go for it - and it sure is a long stony way for anybody who wants to take on Tiger.

[I <3 Titleist]

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....

He also apparently LOVES the Medicus.