tiger 2000 vs rory 2011

[RichF]

Originally Posted by iacas

1 - Tiger won by 15. And that answers your first question.

2 - Rory's going to win the next three majors after this one? Like I said, "that's funny."

1 - You're a smart guy - so don't be pedantic - aside from the obvious Pebble Beach '00.

2 - No, you're just trying to be a little bit too clever than you usually are...

[iacas]

Originally Posted by RichF

1 - You're a smart guy - so don't be pedantic - aside from the obvious Pebble Beach '00.

2 - No, you're just trying to be a little bit too clever than you usually are...

Just responding to the things you've said. You asked if anyone else had done this to a major field. Yes, someone has...

You don't like Tiger Woods as a person and you tend to under-value his on-the-course achievements. Rory will have won one major. He won it on a soft golf course. Let's not put the cart before the horse. He might win 20 majors, or he might win 2. Or 1. Give it a little time.

[RichF]

Originally Posted by iacas

Just responding to the things you've said. You asked if anyone else had done this to a major field. Yes, someone has...

You don't like Tiger Woods as a person and you tend to under-value his on-the-course achievements. Rory will have won one major. He won it on a soft golf course. Let's not put the cart before the horse. He might win 20 majors, or he might win 2. Or 1. Give it a little time.

Nope - it's just that you and many others of the ilk will say anything to discredit such an achievement by a: 22-year old guy just crushed the US Open in his 11h Major appearance. (and 8 weeks after a Masters meltdown - how's that for 'bouncebackability')

Bitter Pill to take isn't it, the total Euro-domination of golf?

[Pablo McGheesio]

Really far too early to compare.

However all this soft course bullshit has to end......everyone played the same course yet one young paddy destroyed the field.

I hate tiger now, but still too early to compare

[iacas]

Originally Posted by RichF

Nope - it's just that you and many others of the ilk will say anything to discredit such an achievement by a: 22-year old guy just crushed the US Open in his 11h Major appearance. (and 8 weeks after a Masters meltdown - how's that for 'bouncebackability')

Bitter Pill to take isn't it, the total Euro-domination of golf?

Rich, I'm not sure where you got the idea that I care about "Euro-domination of golf." Golf is a global game and the only time I'm really rooting for a "country" or "region" is in the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup. And even then I'm more a fan of "good golf and a close competition."

He's won one major. He blew away the field. He's contended in the last four. That's not "discrediting" anything, it's simply not getting ahead of myself.

[arogolf]

Really far too early to compare.

However all this soft course bullshit has to end......everyone played the same course yet one young paddy destroyed the field.

I hate tiger now, but still too early to compare

I know there are factors beyond their control, but the usga did a poor job of getting the greens upto scary speed.

[ghalfaire]

I was certainly impressed with Rory's performance these last four days.  He did destroy the field albeit not by 15 strokes and Congressional was obviously not as difficult as Pebble Beach was in 2000.  I believe Rory will have a long and very successful career and who knows, maybe will turn out to be the best ever.  But he will need to avoid all those distractions that can come with early success and stay free of major injury.   He seems to be a well centered young man so I'm thinking that he will stay on the tracks.  At this time however, it is still just promise based on his obvious talent and one should be careful about counting chickens before the eggs hatch.

For the record I'm not a Tigerphile but what he did at Pebble Beach is still unmatched IMHO.

[Leftygolfer]

There is nothing they can do (the USGA).  If it rains, its going to be receptive to good shots, particularly if you drive it 310 and in the fairway 66% of the time.  The greens were plenty fast but it was a really wet week with little wind.

Regarding Rory, I think he has the chance to be great like tiger.  I want a dominant figure in golf and someone to make professional golf exciting.  I hope he is it.  I like him as a player and person.  I think superhuman golf is amazing.  Not discrediting the pros, they are rediculously good, but no one has been dominant and won 5-6 times a year for 5 plus years.

To compare the 2000 tiger to Rory is premature.  If he wins 4 more times this year, then we can have a serious debate but right now he just had one amazing week where his swing clicked everyday, he putted well, and drove the ball so much better than anyone.  He's got the game.  He just needs to have it 5-6 times a year for a couple of years to compare him to Tiger in his prime.

[laconic517]

Originally Posted by RichF

Nope - it's just that you and many others of the ilk will say anything to discredit such an achievement by a: 22-year old guy just crushed the US Open in his 11h Major appearance. (and 8 weeks after a Masters meltdown - how's that for 'bouncebackability')

Bitter Pill to take isn't it, the total Euro-domination of golf?

Quite the inferiority complex and a major chip on ones shoulder.

This wasnt even close to Tiger in 2000.  12 under when no one else was under par on a much tougher golf course.  He even had  that horrible triple bogey when he was hacking from the rough.

Rory is an amazing player, but this euro BS has to stop.  Incase you haven't noticed, save Tiger and Phil USA had a huge dropoff after Duval went south.  No one even cares about where people are from.  Federer is loved and hes edit: Swiss

[topspin4hand]

I didn't get thru more than a couple of the posts but Rory CLEARLY deserves credit for:

1) Playing a course much much better than the best golfers in the world. Everyone got to play the soft course.

Having said that, this performance is not more impressive than Tiger's 2000 US Open performance, b/c:

• Tiger was the only one under par in 2000, this year, there were 26 guys under par this year!
• Tiger was 15 strokes better than his nearest competitor.  There were 19 guys within 15 strokes of Rory this past weekend.  Rory was awesome but Tiger separated himself from the field more than Rory.

____________________

Looking at the 1997 Masters Leaderboard is more interesting to me.  Tiger's 1st major win:

• Tiger won by 12 strokes (Rory won by 8).
• 5 guys within 15 strokes of Tiger (19 within 15 strokes of Rory)

The most amazing thing about Rory's feat this major to me was the fact that he did it during the 1st major after what happened to him after Augusta. The guy went to Haiti less than 10 days before the US Open. I know it wasn't a long and involved trip, but he could've practiced or rested during that time (I have to disclose that my wife is of Haitian descent so the move struck a cord with me).

Lastly, I can only hope we get a least a year or two of Tiger at his near best just to go against Rory.

[topspin4hand]

Btw, I do think their swings are comparably great at those times (2000 and 2011, respectively) in their careers.  Of course, we will all now look to see if Rory's withstands the repeated tests of time and pressure. I didn't see his 2010 Open round where he shot the 80, but the swing decomposition from that round and this year's Masters are what he has to avoid (obviously).

[MSchott]

Originally Posted by RichF

This comparison is all wrong. As someone pointed out, it has to be Tiger 1997 vs Rory 2011.

Firstly, they were of a similar age (Tiger 21, Rory 22), both had similar years on tour (Tiger turned pro in 1996, Rory in 2008), Woods had three wins to his name, McIlroy, two.

The the results in Majors:

TIGER WOODS

1996

The Masters - CUT

US Open - T82

The Open - T22

PGA Championship - DNP

1997

The Masters - Won

US Open - T19

The Open - T24

PGA Championship - T29

RORY MCILROY

2009

The Masters - T20

US Open - T20

The Open - T477

PGA Championship - T3

2010

The Masters - CUT

US Open - CUT

The Open - T3

PGA Championship - T3

2011

The Masters - T15

US Open - Won

Here we have McIlroy's slight advantage of having an extra two attempts at a Major, but you also have to look at other areas he's superior to Woods in at his point: ball-striking, course-management, maturity, bounce-back-ability, playing within a deeper class of player.

The level of where Woods was in June 2000, McIlroy is about to enter now.

It's fine that you are enthused by McIlroy's great win but lets not get carried away. I believe he has the potential to be a great player but it's very early in his career. When Tiger was his age he was one of the longest hitters on tour as well as the most talented. McIlroy is long but not longer than Bubba Watson or Dustin Johnson or others. And in his heyday no one was better at course management than Woods. Tiger was also the best iron player in the world with a world class short game and nerves of steel.

[RichF]

Quote:

Quite the inferiority complex and a major chip on ones shoulder.

This wasnt even close to Tiger in 2000.  12 under when no one else was under par on a much tougher golf course.  He even had  that horrible triple bogey when he was hacking from the rough.

Rory is an amazing player, but this euro BS has to stop.  Incase you haven't noticed, save Tiger and Phil USA had a huge dropoff after Duval went south.  No one even cares about where people are from.  Federer is loved and hes edit: Swiss

True - but the mistake you (and many others) are making is that you're all forgetting that at the time of Woods' Pebble Beach win, he already had 2 Majors in the bag, had 2 more years on tour and was 25 years old.

The point I made was that McIlroy, at the time of his 1st win yesterday, is far ahead of Woods at the time of Augusta '97...which, is where the comparison has to be made.

[newtogolf]

What's with all this Euro-domination stuff?  Some of you guys come off like a insecure younger brothers who lived in their older brothers shadow until they finally did something worth bragging about.  Rory played great 3 days at The Masters, and dominated the US Open.  He has a great swing and should have a great career, how good it will be has yet to be seen.

Golf isn't the Olympics, it's not about U.S. versus Europe, it's about individual golfers competing as individuals for money and titles, stop making it about more than it is.

Originally Posted by RichF

Nope - it's just that you and many others of the ilk will say anything to discredit such an achievement by a: 22-year old guy just crushed the US Open in his 11h Major appearance. (and 8 weeks after a Masters meltdown - how's that for 'bouncebackability')

Bitter Pill to take isn't it, the total Euro-domination of golf?

[Zwick]

I can't understand this Europe vs. U.S. talk too. I'm from Europe, but it seems like everybody is assuming that Europe is a country. I am not closer to any italian, french, german, irish, whatever-guy than to an american or south-african just because i live on the same continent. In other sports there isn't a debate about continent vs continent, its more about the individuals (tennis for example) or about the national team (soccer for example).

Originally Posted by newtogolf

What's with all this Euro-domination stuff?  Some of you guys come off like a insecure younger brothers who lived in their older brothers shadow until they finally did something worth bragging about.  Rory played great 3 days at The Masters, and dominated the US Open.  He has a great swing and should have a great career, how good it will be has yet to be seen.

Golf isn't the Olympics, it's not about U.S. versus Europe, it's about individual golfers competing as individuals for money and titles, stop making it about more than it is.

[Kieran123]

Originally Posted by Zwick

I can't understand this Europe vs. U.S. talk too. I'm from Europe, but it seems like everybody is assuming that Europe is a country. I am not closer to any italian, french, german, irish, whatever-guy than to an american or south-african just because i live on the same continent. In other sports there isn't a debate about continent vs continent, its more about the individuals (tennis for example) or about the national team (soccer for example).

Why not europe vs the americas? ( not that it would change much )

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Zwick

I can't understand this Europe vs. U.S. talk too. I'm from Europe, but it seems like everybody is assuming that Europe is a country. I am not closer to any italian, french, german, irish, whatever-guy than to an american or south-african just because i live on the same continent. In other sports there isn't a debate about continent vs continent, its more about the individuals (tennis for example) or about the national team (soccer for example).

Do you mean like "PGA v. European Tour", "the US Dollar v. the Euro", or "Team USA v. Team Europe in the Ryder Cup"? Yeah, no connection whatsover.

[jgreen85]

Originally Posted by RichF

Quote:

True - but the mistake you (and many others) are making is that you're all forgetting that at the time of Woods' Pebble Beach win, he already had 2 Majors in the bag, had 2 more years on tour and was 25 years old.

The point I made was that McIlroy, at the time of his 1st win yesterday, is far ahead of Woods at the time of Augusta '97...which, is where the comparison has to be made.

I don't get it. How is Rory ahead of Tiger? Tiger won the Masters at 21, Rory wins the US Open at 22? Tiger had 5 victories in 1997, Rory is at 1 (year is not over). I think we forget how dominate Tiger was, and I was only 12 at this time. Every tournament, it was expected that Tiger would win. It's not like golfers weren't good then; he was just that good. It's interesting though, that he's only 2 victories behind Jack for all time wins (snead 12 ahead), but idk if he's gonna pass Jack :(