Rory McIlroy - 4 Time Major Winner

Domo1982

First Up wrote: »

Well it is hardly in dispute that Rory is prone to mental lapses and has had a number of implosions when leading or close to the lead.

If you can think of anyone who might be able help him better than the guy carrying his bag and walking beside him, I'd say he would be glad to hear from you.

Interesting - I've never thought them to be the best pairing either actually.

They seem like close friends(Not sure if they are) and maybe this does not help when the difficult conversations need to happen.

Almost like Rory's talent alone is enough to win on certain occasions but it could be so much better as a true pair.

Keano

Rory has just moved to second place in the European Tour's Career money list - €28m. Only Lee Westwood ahead of him now.

Domo1982

Keano wrote: »

Rory has just moved to second place in the European Tour's Career money list - €28m. Only Lee Westwood ahead of him now.

Nice money of course but I think we had all hoped that Rory was destined for greater things Keano

Augme

The Dustin Johnson excuses for Rory seem quite comical. DJ double boogied the 3rd hole and birded the 8th. Rory bogeyed the 7th, fired one into the water on the 8th and bogeyed the 9th. His meltdown was in full swing by the time DJ started his. If anyone can use the excuse of having to play with a partner who's having a mare it's DJ, not Rory.

Keano

Domo1982 wrote: »

Nice money of course but I think we had all hoped that Rory was destined for greater things Keano

I give up.

Domo1982

Keano wrote: »

I give up.

Don't understand?

Being 2nd in a list to a such a perennial nearly man ain't where he should be.

Unless that's where he's heading himself - As in underachieving compared to what we all thought he would do. I personally like him a lot but have been slightly disappointed with him over the last couple of years.

Keano

4 majors in underachieving.

Oh and welcome back to the forum - had hope you left your trolling days behind you.

yipsnomore

Domo1982 wrote: »

Don't understand?

Being 2nd in a list to a such a perennial nearly man ain't where he should be.

.

At 26 years of age????

FixdePitchmark

Lads he had a bad round .

It isn't as big a deal as is being made out.

He changed his putting grip. Incredible he was up there at all.

I think he will win a major this year . Maybe 2.

We know Rory is a different player when fully charged/prepared.

He isn't like Tiger personality wise. That is a good and bad thing.

But a bad day at the office and he still could have won that says it all for me.

The caddy thing is interesting and well worth commenting on. As a player he doesn't want that type of caddy. It clearly works, but is very very different to what other pairings do.

Seve OB

Domo1982 wrote: »

Don't understand?

Being 2nd in a list to a such a perennial nearly man ain't where he should be.

Unless that's where he's heading himself - As in underachieving compared to what we all thought he would do. I personally like him a lot but have been slightly disappointed with him over the last couple of years.

that is such a stupid thing to say.

that is like saying to be in second spot with 20 games in hand in the Premier league is underachieving...... except worse!

Seve OB

I'm with Fix. Lets forget about his bad round.

Putting.

Probably one of his best tournaments on the greens in a long long time. He missed nothing since the second hole on Friday.

If this is any sign of things to come, it won't be long before he is back on top. The other stuff is second nature to him, swings and roundabouts, good day, bad days, great days and in general, consistently top quality. But the short stick is where he has had his real problems in the past. Fix that, and you have a force to be reckoned with.

Keano

Westwood has played 467 European Tour events
Rory has played 158 -

What an underachiever he is...

Seve OB

Keano wrote: »

Westwood has played 467 European Tour events
Rory has played 158 -

What an underachiever he is...

OK. 309 games in hand

Domo1982

Seve OB wrote: »

that is such a stupid thing to say.

that is like saying to be in second spot with 20 games in hand in the Premier league is underachieving...... except worse!

No need to be insulting Seve with all due resepct

Is it only a select group on this forum that can have opinions on here?

I had hoped that Rory would have won more majors etc at this stage of his career. He's 27 in a couple of months. I don't believe that's such a crazy thing to say.

Seve OB

Domo1982 wrote: »

No need to be insulting Seve with all due resepct

Is it only a select group on this forum that can have opinions on here?

I had hoped that Rory would have won more majors etc at this stage of his career. He's 27 in a couple of months. I don't believe that's such a crazy thing to say.

how precisely was I being insulting?

When did I say you couldn't have an opinion?

That is a fair comment. I'm sure Rory would have hoped to win more himself.

Domo1982

Keano wrote: »

Westwood has played 467 European Tour events
Rory has played 158 -

What an underachiever he is...

lol - You're the genius who felt the need to educate the world on this futile stat.

So why post it??

Domo1982

Seve OB wrote: »

how precisely was I being insulting?

When did I say you couldn't have an opinion?

That is a fair comment. I'm sure Rory would have hoped to win more himself.

Tiger won his last in 2008 at 33 so that's 5 years away. Hopefully he can go on longer of course but give the quality of the fields these days it will be difficult to get to double figures I think.

First Up

Seve OB wrote: »

I'm with Fix. Lets forget about his bad round.

Putting.

Probably one of his best tournaments on the greens in a long long time. He missed nothing since the second hole on Friday.

If this is any sign of things to come, it won't be long before he is back on top. The other stuff is second nature to him, swings and roundabouts, good day, bad days, great days and in general, consistently top quality. But the short stick is where he has had his real problems in the past. Fix that, and you have a force to be reckoned with.

The bit that he hasn't fixed is the mental side. Everyone has a bad hole or two but a lot of players seem better able to put them behind them. Scott was able to get over two double bogies and battle back. Would Rory have done that? You could see his frustration and annoyance much too clearly for my liking.

charlieIRL

Domo, we'll do the moderating thanks.

kiers47

prawnsambo wrote: »

It's not though. I've seen it so many times. Remember Ernie Els three putting from two feet? His playing partners all played badly as well.

Yes and my point is that the great players do not worry about how bad the guy beside him is playing. This is what we expect from Rory. He is a class act but he needs to propel himself to that level. Blaming playing partner having a bad day and effecting your game is not a valid excuse.

FixdePitchmark

Domo1982 wrote: »

No need to be insulting Seve with all due resepct

Is it only a select group on this forum that can have opinions on here?

I had hoped that Rory would have won more majors etc at this stage of his career. He's 27 in a couple of months. I don't believe that's such a crazy thing to say.

I'd agree with that point - Rory should have way more majors at this point. Maybe 6 +

He definitely has had way too many non golf distractions going on for someone so young. But, he was on the go from what early teens - he genuinely looked like a lad that needed time out in his 20s :eek:

Rory wants more to life than just golf - fair play to him and he seems happy.

prawnsambo

kiers47 wrote: »

Yes and my point is that the great players do not worry about how bad the guy beside him is playing. This is what we expect from Rory. He is a class act but he needs to propel himself to that level. Blaming playing partner having a bad day and effecting your game is not a valid excuse.

He's not making that excuse. He may not even think that's what the problem is or was. We're saying it can't have helped.

Speculation in other words.

BoardsMember

First Up wrote: »

The bit that he hasn't fixed is the mental side. Everyone has a bad hole or two but a lot of players seem better able to put them behind them. Scott was able to get over two double bogies and battle back. Would Rory have done that? You could see his frustration and annoyance much too clearly for my liking.

This hits the nail on the head. It's not so much about what he's won or lost, or comparing career totals at a certain age. Rory does not seem to be great on the mental side when things go awry for him.

prawnsambo

First Up wrote: »

The bit that he hasn't fixed is the mental side. Everyone has a bad hole or two but a lot of players seem better able to put them behind them. Scott was able to get over two double bogies and battle back. Would Rory have done that? You could see his frustration and annoyance much too clearly for my liking.

I didn't see that. Understandably annoyed at times but I didn't see constant frustration or annoyance. More times I was thinking he was a bit relaxed if anything.

In the last couple of years I would have thought he's got better at grinding out results even when his game was struggling rather than losing it after a few bad holes.

He's won coming from behind, held on with a shot or two lead as well as the headline making eight shot demolitions.

First Up

prawnsambo wrote: »

I didn't see that. Understandably annoyed at times but I didn't see constant frustration or annoyance. More times I was thinking he was a bit relaxed if anything.

In the last couple of years I would have thought he's got better at grinding out results even when his game was struggling rather than losing it after a few bad holes.

He's won coming from behind, held on with a shot or two lead as well as the headline making eight shot demolitions.

It wasn't constant but you could see the confidence draining away as his short game went AWOL and he started finding bunkers off every tee. I think the "relaxed" appearance was more a matter of resignation.

I don't want to overstate it - he has battled brilliantly on occasions. Dubai last November was a great example when he found water on the par 3 and made a fantastic bogey to stay ahead. He also has a good record of coming back strong in the next tournament after a bad result.

But recovering from one bad shot or bad hole isn't the problem; its when he gets into a trough and doesn't seem to know how to dig himself out. I'm sure he has thought about it a lot more than we have and I hope he has talked to people who might be able to help. "Mind coaches" seem to be as popular as swing coaches these days.

Russman

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

I'd agree with that point - Rory should have way more majors at this point. Maybe 6 +

He definitely has had way too many non golf distractions going on for someone so young. But, he was on the go from what early teens - he genuinely looked like a lad that needed time out in his 20s :eek:

Rory wants more to life than just golf - fair play to him and he seems happy.

I'd agree he seems to have a lot of non-golf stuff going on and that he also seems to want to have a "normal" life, insofar as that's possible for him.

But, apart from that Masters in 2011, I can't really think of another major he definitely should have won, as opposed to being vaguely near to the first page of the leaderboard at the weekend...........?

Not you Fix, but I think a lot of people underestimate how hard it is to win one major, never mind the four he already has. Sometimes someone simply just plays better than you do on a given day. We were spoilt (or cursed, depending on how you look at it) with the Tiger era, when a once in a generation player dominated, but that Tiger era has IMO lead to the jump in quality of a lot of the younger players coming through now, with the resultant crowding at the top end.

FixdePitchmark

Russman

I know they are not easy to win - but they should be easy for Rory to win. I know it is water under the bridge , he is still young and can afford to take time out at certain times , not be as committed as Tiger etc.

But 2013 was a joke of a season - considering how he dominated end of 2012.
The whole Wozi thing - ISM was a major distraction.
The Open last year was a joke. ( I know others make excuses about it - but not that soon to a major)
The Irish question - not his fault was another one.

Of course, that much money doing the rounds, pressure, hanger oners - there are going to be times like that - but it seemed to be one thing after another around that time.

I accept that Tiger was on another planet - but , I genuinely think Rory had it in him to win more majors 25 and under.

The quality of winners the last few years , have made things harder for Rory and perhaps Rory is the type of guy that needs it to be hard. Spieth , Day , Watson, Kaymer, Scott all won playing to a very very high level - that was unreachable for most.

But when I see someone like Z. Johnson, Rose, Simpson, Dufner, Bradley picking up stuff and Rory is sort of 1/2 asleep - I honestly get seriously pissed off at the time (as a golf fan - as an Irish golf fan).

Then go **** it - maybe Rory is right , Tiger was an animal , but behind all the fake talk - not sure that many people actually like Tiger as a bloke. Maybe Rory is right - it is just golf - he still has 4 majors , friends, loads of money and will easily pick up 6 + more. I think he will retire young - he has hinted at it. He will get to 10 I think.

Jayop

Would Tiger t his best dominate with the current field?

ForeRight

Jayop wrote: »

Would Tiger t his best dominate with the current field?

I'd have no doubt he would

mickmackey1

Good post there Fix. But looking back, Tiger let plenty majors slip - Micheel, Beem, Curtis, Hamilton all took titles during what should have been the height of his dominance.