Rory McIlroy......Great accomplishment, but still not one of the greats, IMO

[Special K]

By winning the Masters, Rory became the sixth player in history to win the career Grand Slam.

 

While this is a great accomplishment, I just do not see him on the same level as the Golfers who have also reached this feat.

 

First of all, the guy has made a career out of being a massive choke-artist in the Majors. Today's win was his first Major win in 11 years......11 years!!! Not to mention the fact that he tried multiple times to choke this win away, but the only player to rise to the challenge was Justin Rose, and he just started from too far back to pull out the win....a truly great effort by Rose today.

 

Secondly, he came into the tour at just the right time, toward the end of Tiger and Phil's dominance, but before the next wave of great players came on to the tour like Scheffler, Spieth, Thomas, Morikawa, Schauffele, etc....it's the reason he won his first 4 Majors so quickly vs a diluted field, and why he hadn't won a Major in 11 years against a stacked one.

 

All in all, a great accomplishment, but he isn't even in my top 10 golfers of all-time.

 

On a side note, Scottie Scheffler's presentation of the Green Jacket to Rory was really pathetic. He didn't shake Rory's hand, Rory said "Thanks, Scottie." and he didn't respond at all, then he walked off the set as fast as he possibly could......that was a really bad look for Scottie, IMO.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 04:39 AM by Special K

[US Egg]

Yesterday had the makings for a one for the ages epic performance. So darn close!

 

Top 10? Guess he merits consideration now. Purse wise, he’s top 5 easily.

[Jauronimo]

11 hours ago, Special K said:

By winning the Masters, Rory became the sixth player in history to win the career Grand Slam.

 

While this is a great accomplishment, I just do not see him on the same level as the Golfers who have also reached this feat.

 

First of all, the guy has made a career out of being a massive choke-artist in the Majors. Today's win was his first Major win in 11 years......11 years!!! Not to mention the fact that he tried multiple times to choke this win away, but the only player to rise to the challenge was Justin Rose, and he just started from too far back to pull out the win....a truly great effort by Rose today.

 

Secondly, he came into the tour at just the right time, toward the end of Tiger and Phil's dominance, but before the next wave of great players came on to the tour like Scheffler, Spieth, Thomas, Morikawa, Schauffele, etc....it's the reason he won his first 4 Majors so quickly vs a diluted field, and why he hadn't won a Major in 11 years against a stacked one.

 

All in all, a great accomplishment, but he isn't even in my top 10 golfers of all-time.

 

On a side note, Scottie Scheffler's presentation of the Green Jacket to Rory was really pathetic. He didn't shake Rory's hand, Rory said "Thanks, Scottie." and he didn't respond at all, then he walked off the set as fast as he possibly could......that was a really bad look for Scottie, IMO.

 

 

Only 6 guys have ever done it.  Being the worst of those still lands you easily among the all time greats. 

 

Rory is tied for 15th in all time major wins and 18th in career PGA wins with plenty of runway left.  These rankings includes a few Scots who racked up Open wins before WWI.

 

I don't think anyone puts him on the same level as Jack and Tiger but he's well ahead of Spieth, JT, Morikawa, Xander.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

As an aside, Josh Allen was there. I guess Caitlin Clark— also there— mentioned how she was shooting the breeze with Josh Allen. 
 

As a separate aside, this led me down an internet rabbit hole to discover that Rory’s wife is from Rochester and a Bills fan, and so Rory is now a Bills fan.

[Special K]

44 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

Only 6 guys have ever done it.  Being the worst of those still lands you easily among the all time greats. 

 

Rory is tied for 15th in all time major wins and 18th in career PGA wins with plenty of runway left.  These rankings includes a few Scots who racked up Open wins before WWI.

 

I don't think anyone puts him on the same level as Jack and Tiger but he's well ahead of Spieth, JT, Morikawa, Xander.

Hare are some of the Golfers who have won 3 of the 4 Majors:

 

Mickelson, Tom Watson, Raymond Floyd, Sam Snead, Spieth, Byron Nelson, Walter Hagen, Lee Trevino.

 

Outside of Spieth, I would not put Rory above any of those guys.

[BillsPride12]

Winning the Grand Slam doesn't mean he automatically is on the Nicklaus or Tiger level but he has earned himself a spot in rare company.  

[Jauronimo]

1 hour ago, Special K said:

Hare are some of the Golfers who have won 3 of the 4 Majors:

 

Mickelson, Tom Watson, Raymond Floyd, Sam Snead, Spieth, Byron Nelson, Walter Hagen, Lee Trevino.

 

Outside of Spieth, I would not put Rory above any of those guys.

That opinion is supported by the stats.  Rory fits in somewhere between 11 and 20 based on tour wins and major victories.  With a couple more wins he could move up closer to 10.  I think everyone in this thread sees Rory pretty similarly in terms of where he belongs on the all time list.

[Steve O]

18 hours ago, Special K said:

By winning the Masters, Rory became the sixth player in history to win the career Grand Slam.

While this is a great accomplishment, I just do not see him on the same level as the Golfers who have also reached this feat.

First of all, the guy has made a career out of being a massive choke-artist in the Majors. Today's win was his first Major win in 11 years......11 years!!! Not to mention the fact that he tried multiple times to choke this win away, but the only player to rise to the challenge was Justin Rose, and he just started from too far back to pull out the win....a truly great effort by Rose today.

Secondly, he came into the tour at just the right time, toward the end of Tiger and Phil's dominance, but before the next wave of great players came on to the tour like Scheffler, Spieth, Thomas, Morikawa, Schauffele, etc....it's the reason he won his first 4 Majors so quickly vs a diluted field, and why he hadn't won a Major in 11 years against a stacked one.

 

All in all, a great accomplishment, but he isn't even in my top 10 golfers of all-time.

 

On a side note, Scottie Scheffler's presentation of the Green Jacket to Rory was really pathetic. He didn't shake Rory's hand, Rory said "Thanks, Scottie." and he didn't respond at all, then he walked off the set as fast as he possibly could......that was a really bad look for Scottie, IMO.

 

 

Let me ask you this. Is he on his way to one of the 10 best seasons of all time? He's won 3 of the six tournaments he's played in, also has a 5th place. All loaded fields. Unarguably he's won the biggest 2 so far this year, TPC and Masters. Arguably the AT&T Pro Am is the third biggest so far. What would it take to make it a top 10 season. Would another major, signature even, and FedEx championship do it given his limited schedule?

[Special K]

24 minutes ago, Steve O said:

Let me ask you this. Is he on his way to one of the 10 best seasons of all time? He's won 3 of the six tournaments he's played in, also has a 5th place. All loaded fields. Unarguably he's won the biggest 2 so far this year, TPC and Masters. Arguably the AT&T Pro Am is the third biggest so far. What would it take to make it a top 10 season. Would another major, signature even, and FedEx championship do it given his limited schedule?

 

This Sunday might be a fork in the road for his career.......if he would have fully choked this tournament away and lost, that might have been too much to bear, and something he never would have fully recovered from. Now that he got this "Monkey off his back", maybe the floodgates will open up.

 

If he does what you are saying the rest of this year, it would definitely be one of the all-time great seasons, but for me to consider him in the all-time great category, he would need to win 4-5 more Majors, and win them in a convincing fashion without looking like he is teetering on the brink of choking.

 

At least he broke the "Wozniacki curse"......he had not won a Major since right after he broke up with his Fiancée, tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, over the phone!!.......a really low-character move, IMO.

 

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2078347-rory-mcilroy-reportedly-broke-up-with-caroline-wozniacki-w-3-minute-phone-call

Edited 19 hours ago by Special K

[ExiledInIllinois]

Rory is a Bills fan.  His wife is from Irondequoit.

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

7 hours ago, Special K said:

Hare are some of the Golfers who have won 3 of the 4 Majors:

 

Mickelson, Tom Watson, Raymond Floyd, Sam Snead, Spieth, Byron Nelson, Walter Hagen, Lee Trevino.

 

Outside of Spieth, I would not put Rory above any of those guys.

Due to advances in sports training and equipment development, I don’t think any of the old time greatest could hold a candle to Rory … not to mention golf probably didn’t draw the top athletes back in the day 

[Mike In Illinois]

The Bills put out a video of Von and Josh at the '23 PGA Championship and Rory talks about his wife being from WNY and he adopted the Bills as his team. (link should be cued to that part of the video)

 

Rory Adopted Into the Mafia

[LeviF]

13 hours ago, Special K said:

 

This Sunday might be a fork in the road for his career.......if he would have fully choked this tournament away and lost, that might have been too much to bear, and something he never would have fully recovered from. Now that he got this "Monkey off his back", maybe the floodgates will open up.

 

Watching him on Sunday, as someone who usually gets an unhealthy amount of pleasure in other people's mental anguish, was horrifying. Golf is incredible - watching guys who are in the 1% of 1% of something just fall into the abyss of their own mind, where there seems to be no bottom, and it all comes out through tiny variations in a finely tuned set of movements.

 

Then to watch him grab onto a ledge and haul himself back up again...man, I love golf.

[Simon]

10 minutes ago, LeviF said:

 

Watching him on Sunday, as someone who usually gets an unhealthy amount of pleasure in other people's mental anguish, was horrifying. Golf is incredible - watching guys who are in the 1% of 1% of something just fall into the abyss of their own mind, where there seems to be no bottom, and it all comes out through tiny variations in a finely tuned set of movements.

 

Then to watch him grab onto a ledge and haul himself back up again...man, I love golf.

 

I got home late Sunday and literally flipped on the TV at the exact moment he was standing over that 5 footer on 18.

With no background or no idea of what had preceded it, you could instantly see through the screen that he was shaking like a dog shlttin peach pits.

[stuvian]

He's 35. This book is still being written