Rory McIlroy - 4 Time Major Winner

FixdePitchmark

Look golf is nuts - Phill got better with age.

But looking at these young lads Aberg - H0Jgaard - they will be past Rory soon enough.

Good putting and short game - can often be for the youth . Who gets better at the short game in their 30s.

It is rare enough.

CMcsporty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122019858#Comment_122019858

It’s all Harry’s fault!!

FixdePitchmark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122019956#Comment_122019956

I don't know if this is a joke ..But Harry does have to go ..and will (IMO)

paulos53

Level par for the three par 5s with an eagle putt on each of them

CMcsporty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122019959#Comment_122019959

Joke but yes he should change everything now

FixdePitchmark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122019977#Comment_122019977

And besides the fact that Harry says nothing - Rory was short all week,

Dr Turk Turkelton

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122019956#Comment_122019956

I didn't say that.

Sometimes a change is as good as a rest and it's definitely not working with Harry Diamond on the bag so no harm to try something different.

StevenToast

Poor old Mcilmiss....4 putt when on for eagle...is Butch taking credit for that?

Deeper Blue

People are still calling him Mcilmiss? That was never funny nor clever, can't believe it's still a thing.

His form has been average so no surprise he didn't play great. Saying he's accepted he'll never win etc is nonsense.

But then again I'm aware a lot of this is coming from people that only switch on the golf for few hours on a Sunday night in April every year.

Motivator

McIlroy genuinely looks lost at the moment, no energy in his game at all. He’s quoted as potentially weighing up a swing change which at his age is pure madness. If that’s the route he wanted to go down then it should have happened before he hit 30. There’s too many good young players on the scene at the moment and he doesn’t have the time to take 12 months to bed in a new swing. Harrington tried it in 2008/09 and look how that went. He lost a couple of years of serious competitive golf.

I’ve said it before on here but I’ll say it again. Harry Diamond needs to get the boot. It’s not as if McIlroy is struggling ability wise, it’s mental and the mental side of things is where a good caddie is worth any money. A new caddie brings a whole new freshness to his game. Potentially going down the route of mechanical changes to his game before trying a different caddie is pure madness. Diamond speaks when spoken too, I know that’s the arrangement but he’s not strong enough for that gig at all. I do reckon we’ll see a change there sooner rather than later.

FixdePitchmark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122020796#Comment_122020796

Whilst I do agree with this mostly - and 100 % agree Rory needed a rebirth a good 8 or 9 years ago.

He still is a young man - and golfers with way more majors than Rory , completely reshaped their game and career older than Rory.

He is only 34.

Yes - he can do it - but he needs to be more radical and act way faster.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122020764#Comment_122020764

In his post round interview on Sky he said 'this year wasn't my year but I'll keep coming back until it is'. I am not sure where the acceptance is in there.

Motivator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122020799#Comment_122020799

34 in todays professional game is veteran stage. This is his 16th season now as a professional and the game is well and truly a young man’s game. If he spends 12 months trying to change and bed in a change in swing then he’s losing serious ground. Not that I think we will, but we could see a new scheffler pop up in the next 12 year or so. What Scheffler is doing is Tiger-esque and he’s only 27. I think by 30, he’ll have comfortably surpassed Mcilroy in terms of Major wins. The bar he’s setting is scary.

The Big Easy

That was a real changing of the guard leaderboard, not one of the old guard in the top 10.

Rory is definitely a member of the old guard, although its youngest member.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122021048#Comment_122021048

McIlroy had 4 majors by his age. Only one repeat major there.

Scottie isn't doing anything on Tigers level until he goes and wins more majors. Until he does that, we've seen dominance like this from Rahm, Rory and others over the years.

34 is experienced but he still has 10 years or so at the very top level to land the grand slam.

GolfPar

Scottie looks like a dominant player but yet his win's are very interesting. He was won 8 times in stroke play events, but these wins have only come in 4 events(Masters x 2, Players x 2, Phoenix x 2, AP Inv x 2), and in terms of the golfing calendar he has yet to win a tournament any season after the Masters. I personally think he is the real deal in a big way but he still has to prove it in other tournaments and other courses.

spacecoyote

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122021253#Comment_122021253

Don't think that's particularly uncommon. Tiger has a crazy number of wins, but he has multiple wins in certain tournaments:

Arnold Palmer and WGC Bridgestone 8 times each

WGC Cadillac and Farmers 7 times each

BMW, Memorial, Masters 5 times each.

For 45 of his total wins came across 7 events

OEP

There's always expectation that McIlroy can win it but this year his game was in bad shape coming into it. In particular his iron play. All golfers know that if you're struggling with your irons then you have no hope in the wind - and the wind blew his game apart.

callaway92

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122021253#Comment_122021253

I don't see how Scheffler has to 'prove it' in other tournaments and courses. He is winning THE BIGGEST tournaments, and in his relatively short career, in the last 4 years (including this year's Masters) he has 10 x Top 10s in the 12x Majors he has played.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122021253#Comment_122021253

I'm sure he'll add to that. I'd guess he'd like to add Riviera, the Memorial, the Heritage and the Tour Championship. He'll probably win the Tour Championship, probably add one of if not both the Heritage and the Memorial this year. He is out on his own now, the most dominant golfer since Tiger.

Motivator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122021253#Comment_122021253

Scheffler has absolutely zero to prove. He is the best player in the world by an absolute mile. Woods in his prime was a the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a machine, Scheffler is the exact same. Zero emotion, just head down and play his game. His putting is the only part of his game that isn’t flawless but Woods was the same with his driving for years. Scheffler is the real deal and is the best player we’ve seen since Woods on his prime of 1999 - 2002. Nobody in between has come anywhere near him, Mcilroy included.

Motivator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122021126#Comment_122021126

I’d have Scheffler ahead of McIlroy. In terms of pure talent, Scheffler is ahead of him now I think. He’ll add more majors, he might even add three more in the next 3 months who knows how things will go once his child arrives. But I can’t see where he’s going to drop off.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122021764#Comment_122021764

After Valhalla, everyone said Rory would add more majors. I think Scottie will win more majors but I also think Rory will too.

big_drive

At 34 years of age Rory certainly isn't old as some people are suggesting. He has years left. With the way the players look after themselves now in terms of S&C players can compete for longer, Rory is so long off the tee that even a loss in distance through age won't effect him hugely for a long time.

DiegoWorst

Rory's strength is his driving, length and the ability to draw the ball from the tee gives him an advantage. But the real challenge to Augusta is controlling short irons and wedge shots into the greens. The course demands a huge degree of accuracy with these approach shots. At the moment, whatever is happening in his swing, Rory doesn't have that control. It is even more of a struggle for him when the wind blows. That he has some decent finishes at The Masters is testament to the rest of his game.

Dav010

Can’t remember which golfer on the full swing series said that golfers coming onto the tour today are much better prepared to win than they used to be, and hit the ball just as long as established pros. Personally I can’t see the standards dropping so if the younger guys are better, McIlroy will have to improve, and I don’t think anyone here, even the fanboys think he has gotten better with age compared to 12-14 and his 4 majors.

AdamD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122022111#Comment_122022111

He has absolutely gotten worse with age, he's not close to the player he was 10 years ago. But despite in influx of young, talented golfers, we've still seen Woods and Mickleson win majors in recent years.

Dav010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122022149#Comment_122022149

Let’s be fair, McIlroy is not Mickelson, and most certainly is not in the same league as Woods. Mickelson short game is renowned, that helped him enormously in Kiawah Island.

OEP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122022159#Comment_122022159

I think McIlroy's career is most like Mickelson's, if anyone. Granted, if he doesn't win any more majors than that comparison falls down but they're both mercurial talents who win a lot.

Doc07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122021755#Comment_122021755

Sheffler is incredible but do you really think Koepka (4 majors in 2 years) and Duval (major and multiple tour wins plus a spell at number 1 during the Tiger peak) or indeed McIlroy 2010-2014 come nowhere near?