Fowler or Mcilroy

[Vance87]

You guys knocking Fowler's hair are ridiculous. Rory looks like a clown with a Titleist hat on.

And you aren't giving him enough credit. He has shown more early promise than Rory did.

[Blades4me]

At this point my vote goes to McIlroy, but only b/c he has a year under his belt on the PGA tour. I am hoping to see Fowler do well this year.

[Jay-Bird]

For the love of God, NEITHER.

[Quinn07]

And you aren't giving him enough credit. He has shown more early promise than Rory did.

How can you say that he has shown more early promise? Rory is already ranked 9th in the world! He's been on tour for one year and I don't think Rickie has even played an event yet. Just curious as to what promise Rickie Fowler has shown that Rory hasn't?

[Acropo]

Rory played on several PGA Tour events in the early part of 2009 and acquitted himself pretty well - especially considering he didn't turn 20 till May.
Ricky has just got his card from Q-School.
Rory won the Dubai Desert Classic in February 2009, at the age of 19, on the way to finishing 2nd in the European Tour Order of Merit (Race to Dubai), with €3,610,020 - approx $2,500,000.
That amount would have put him at 24th on the PGA Tour but is all the more significant because the prizemoney on the European Tour isn't as high as it is in the States.
Also worth noting that the OGWR points aren't as high on the European Tour, either - which makes his end-of-year 9th position in the World Rankings pretty impressive.

He has the experience and the quality to win on the PGA Tour and I sincerely hope he comes through. I'm looking forward to seeing him line up against Ryo Ishikawa, too, who is a very bright prospect as well.

[Vance87]

How can you say that he has shown more early promise? Rory is already ranked 9th in the world! He's been on tour for one year and I don't think Rickie has even played an event yet. Just curious as to what promise Rickie Fowler has shown that Rory hasn't?

Wha...Rickie has played in a handful of events. Since 2008 (when he made the cut):

T60 in US Open '08 T40 in First Nationwide event Lost in playoff in Nationwide event in '09 (Children's Hospital Event) Got 2nd T31 in Soboba Classic T7 in JT Shriners PGA Tour event T2 in Frys.com Open, lost in playoff T40 in Children's Miracle Classic By the way he's made the cut 8 out of the 12 times since he started playing in official events. And he nearly got his card for 2010 without going to Q-School, which by the way has only been accomplished by Woods and Mickelson (and I think one other, but I can't remember who) Yeah he sucks.

[meaculpa]

... finishing 2nd in the European Tour Order of Merit (Race to Dubai), with €3,610,020 - approx $2,500,000.

€3,610,020 = approx $5,200,000

no offense

[Quinn07]

Yeah he sucks.

I don't believe I ever said he sucks. I am just confused as to why you think he has had a better start than Rory. Here are Rory's finishes this past year in the majors alone:

Masters T20 US Open T10 The Open T47 PGA T3 Not to mention he's younger than Rickie. I think Rickie is a great amateur player, but he has yet to prove himself in any big event. Here are some of his other accomplishments: 2007 - became the youngest Affiliate Member in the history of The European Tour to earn a tour card. 2008 - finished the season having established himself in the top 100 of the world rankings and was ranked 36th on the European Tour Order of Merit. 2009 - the youngest ever player to make the top 50 world ranking. Hmmm does that mean Tiger didn't even do that? 2009 - finished ranked 2nd in the race to Dubai 2009 - he entered the top 10 of the world rankings for the first time, the youngest player to do so since Sergio García.

[Vance87]

Quinn, you didn't even know he had played in any events yet.

I posted those stats because some of you don't seem to be giving him much credit and are treating him as just another guy. He's established himself as more than that, in my opinion.

[Acropo]

€3,610,020 = approx $5,200,000

None taken - I cocked up by dividing by 1.46 instead of multiplying! Thanks for the correction.

It makes Rory's achievement this year even more remarkable - it would have got him to 4th on the PGA Tour - just behind Phil Mickelson.

[Acropo]

Quinn, you didn't even know he had played in any events yet.

No-one's saying Fowler sucks - he's clearly a very promising young talent.

However, I think the apparent expectations of him are maybe a bit high. He's not as far into his career as Rory, who has been on a main tour for over two years - since he was 18. Fowler currently stands at no. 1081 in the World Rankings; McIlroy is 9th - that's 1072 places ahead of Fowler. Rory has come straight on to the Tour on the basis of his World ranking; Fowler did well at Q School and that is a tough environment but it isn't the same as being No. 9 in the World. Performances on the Nationwide Tour - no matter how good they may be - do not rank with the European Tour; they're more in line with the Challenge Tour, Europe's equivalent to the Nationwide - one step down. The Official World Rankings concur - they don't award full points for Nationwide events. The European Tour is second only to the PGA Tour in terms of ranking points. Events may catch me out but I expect Rory will do pretty well this coming year. Not necessarily on regular Tour events, strangely - his putting is good but it's not the strongest part of his game and Tour greens really do need excellent putting. But his play tee to green is really outstanding and he has the ability to get it close with his approach shots. where I do expect to see him do well is in the Majors at Whistling Straits, Pebble Beach and St Andrews. He grew up playing links courses (inc Portrush) and is used to handling wind, errant bounces and everything else that links courses throw up. Fowler may do very well but I think it is expecting a lot of him to zoom straight to a leading position. You may think he has done enough to establish himself already and you're entitled to your opinion - however, I don't agree with you. Not yet - he has to do more, to win and consistently do well on a full Tour and against quality fields before he's in the same league as Rory. At this stage of his career, anyway. Give him time. Ryo Ishikawa, on the other hand...doesn't your mouth water at the thought of the two princes (him and Rory) going head-to-head sometime?

[Acropo]

Q: did Rory have a good early start in golf?

A: http://www.independent.ie/multimedia...me_183426t.jpg

(Rory's the one on the right!)

[finoky]

I love watching them both. If I was a betting man I would put my money on Rory to win first and I wouldn't be surprised if they both won this year.

[Quinn07]

Regardless of whether I knew he played in events or not has nothing to do with it. Maybe that just goes to show that he hasn't really done anything to make me think he's going to be better than Rory. I think you might be misunderstanding my view here. I hope that Rickie becomes a great player and lives up to his expectations, however there have been too many players just like Rickie (Example Ricky Barnes) that were suppose to come out of the gate and win and haven't really amounted to much. Rory has already proven last year that he can play at this level and I believe that he will have a win this year and not Fowler.

[laquintaboy82]

I think they are bot really good,but the 1st time i seen rory play i was blown away when he won the 1st time on the european tour how consistent he was also how well he did against the top feilds in the majors and i think rickie has alot of prooving to do on tour against the best i used to practice at the murrietta golf range and my god the hype was so high kids in school said he was spoiled little rich kid so wee will see what happens and as far as his style i think its a little immature sorry guys

I also forgot to mention the murrietta practice range is where he grew up

[MKPKR]

Rory. I watched him a little bit off and on last year. But after the "international match play thing" in China, i'm now a big fan.

[Acropo]

I think this argument may have been settled - for now!

[authentic_golfer]

I'm gonna take a flyer on Rory.

How'd he fare today, anyhow?

Kid's a mega-talent. Good to see him break through in a big way.

Sean