New thread as old one is nearly at 10000 post limit.
Old thread
I wonder how long it will take Rory to get to sleep over the coming weeks, publicly he gave the media response but internally he must be gutted.
When he finally does get to sleep it's The Masters next and the pressure all over again to close out the Grand Slam
I think what also added to his slightly conservative play (debatable), is that he was in complete control for the front 9 and even a couple of holes into the back 9, but then all of a sudden Smith had birdied 5 consecutive holes and he found himself behind. Even though putts weren't dropping for him in the first 9, he probably still felt he was on track to win but then all of sudden someone goes on a tear and it got very hard to catch with the holes that were remaining. That's why 14 in particular was a bad hole, he knew he needed a birdie there.
I think it's fair to say he let the opportunity slip away. It's his first time really contending on the closing holes of a Major since 2014.
I was almost sure he would not win another Major but I'm not so sure anymore!
he said bottler, which is what the thread constantly circles, see MAYO above
not exactly the same is it
You can take away that -18 is great scoring, and that he let the opportunity to win slip away, it doesn’t have to be one or the other.
even if Rory had shot -3 hed have lost
shooting -8 is gonna put you in the mix, his scores across the 4 days were unreal
shooting 1 over par on saturday, even that couldnt undo the good, and 73 is still a good score
if you have a massive lead it doesn't matter, playing shite on friday is as bad as playing shite sunday, its totals that matter
Has to be said there is an incredible amount of sh1t talked on this thread.. smith had 6 birdies on the back nine yesterday.. young eagled the last .
People are so desperate for Rory to fail so they can roll out the "i knew he was a bottler" line.. its pathetic. 18 under for a major with much improved wedge play and putting is what im taking away from this performance..
Possibly a bit harsh but the reference has some basis
He wasn't just beaten by Smith, Young also beat him.
29 players shot -4 or better yesterday.
The course was there for the taking.
He didn't get any really unlucky bounce or break over the day.
With those conditions he should really have made it 30 players.
Tough one to take for him.
At this stage of his career he's not going to take much solace from a third place (or a second place), particularly given the starting position he had for the final round.
Id argue it matters greatly. And playing your worst on the last day isnt ideal.
Not if the guy who starts 4 shots ahead of you has an above average day on the course, it doesn’t. (Average score for the 83 players on Sunday was just under -2, 44 players shot -3 or better)
it doesn't matter what day you play your worst, its the sum of the days, smith was outstanding, all the top players were
-8 on the last day is gonna get it done
The cold hard facts were that he saved his worst round of the 4 till last by 2 shots.
I think this sums it up perfectly for me. There won't be another Tiger but lots of people had Rory down as probably finishing up on the next rung down just below Jack and Tiger. I certainly think double digit majors was more than a possibility. From a personal point of view (I know plenty will disagree), and I'm watching and playing golf since the 80s when Seve, Faldo etc were in their pomp, he's the best player I've seen, but won't have anywhere close to the best record. Is that pretty contradictory ? Probably ! He won't have Tiger's record but maybe the non golf part of his life is better.
Matching a Phil or Faldo, incredible as a career as that would be, would IMHO be a disappointment (in relative terms). If he has, say, 5 years left at the very, very top, that's 20 more majors, he'd need to be picking up one a year or thereabouts to get to where he probably feels he should be. One a year for 5 years is pretty Tiger like domination, so I'd guess its fairly unlikely. I felt if he got the win yesterday he was likely to go on a bit of a tear and pick up maybe 3 of the next 6 or something, but I do feel after yesterday, there's a good chance he may end up finishing on the 4 he has. The same as Koepka and Els and one ahead of Harrington would absolutely be a disappointment.
This is a pretty good summary, balanced and to the point. Too many extremes on here, driven by pre-conceptions or angles that help drive narratives people believe in, rather than looking at the cold hard facts.
It was really down to putts not dropping. And a bad second shot on 14. His putting looked nervous though, which is why they weren't dropping.
Easy to say with hindsight that he played too conservatively. If he had gone more aggressive and ended up in a gorse bush, the hurlers on the ditch would be out in force saying he lost the head, should have played more conservatively, what an eejit.
This is the best he has played over 4 rounds in a major since he last won one. He may have even played better than he did in some of those he won.
His strategy for the last round didn't even look that conservative to me. In any case, the way he played the final round would see him win most of the time. A few putts didn't drop. Smith played great and putts dropped for him. He had a wobble on the 17th which could have easily cost him the championship but didn't and he was a deserving winner as would Rory have been. That's golf.
He's only a Master's win away from being considered one of the greatest, and today might make that less likely but he'll have a chance there if he can keep his current form up.
Did stenson not get to -20 the year he beat Phil
it does put the hysteria about st andrews in perspective, faldo shot -18 to win in 1990, similar conditions
I think overall, the quality of the field has gotten much better as a result of the uptick in the game post tiger
Plus tech has come on massively (not just clubs) allowing people to analyze the game in a way that you were only guessing at back then
It turned from a feel game to one based on science
If my auntie had balls she’d be my uncle, I feel for him he let it slip away but the good news is he is back to his best the last six months so I’m sure he’ll get more chances next year
Ah look , he shot his worst round on the last day by 2 shots when the pins were in the easiest positions for the week. Thats the pertinent fact.
You see you are only looking at the last round. If he shot the 70 in rounds 1,2 or 3 there wouldn't be a word about it.
You have to look at all four days not just round 4. If somebody shot 70, 70, 70, 60 they wouldn't win this year's Open.
Fact is he didn’t win again, and it was his to lose with a half decent round when he’s back to his best form. I’d say he’s sick as a dog this morning he just went too conservative to avoid any big mistakes, good idea at Augusta or Carnoustie, not a course he was destroying all week. He’ll be back but this will sting that’s for sure. His post round interview was very mature though I think he’s finally growing up and he’ll learn from it.
The world no.1 shot 74, the world no.2 shot 70, the world no.3 shot 70, the world no.4 missed the cut, the world no.5 shot 70.
These are the rankings prior to this weekends results.
Fact of the matter is that if Rory didn't have to go for eagle on the last he almost certainly would have tied Tiger's record for lowest tournament score in the Open.
Fact is that record was broken, and had to be broken to beat Rory.
I think people's expectations were that Rory would be more than "just" a hall of fame player, rather that he was destined to be one of the greats of the game. There are a lot of guys in the hall of fame, not too many true greats.
Those expectations were fairly realistic 9 years ago imo. I don't think anyone sensible would have imagined he would get close to Tiger's haul. But double figures in Majors wouldn't have been an outrageous suggestion at that time.
We're now talking about him potentially matching Seve, or Phil and Faldo. All great achievements obviously, but I think the golfing world had sights on him getting close to, and maybe beyond, the likes of Watson, Hogan and Player on 9.
I think these 8 years and particularly Augusta have to be factored into his legacy. How can they not. It may be unfair or harsh to say it has been a case of a wasted talent, but he certainly hasn't lived up to the way he took the golfing world by storm.
He does have plenty of time and I would expect him to add a few more but if he's really honest with himself, I don't think he can be happy on four.
another factor aswell compared to other era's is that the competition is so good right now. A player isn't going to dominate like tiger anymore, you will have fits and spurts like Keapka, spieth etc. We have 4 first time major winners this year. The only criticism of McIlroy i would have was when he was putting well on thursday and saturday he should've went lower, one of the two 66's should've being 63 64, i think he had a bad putt for a eagle on one hole and only birdie.
Agree with Dav010'a response to this post. There are many reasons for Rory not winning a major over the last 8 years, not least his own shortcomings, but it can't be said that the only reason is that they're so hard to win!
The other big assumption is 'McIlroy has had a phenomenal career to date and it can only get better. That just may not happen and he may have peaked in terms of major wins. Most of the guys who've won multiple majors in the last 10-20 years have won them in spurts and not won again. I'm thinking Harrington, Koepka, Spieth as examples.
I don’t think “because they’re so bloody hard to win” is an all encompassing explanation as to why he hasn’t won a major since 2014, you should add to that the fact that at times he has scuttled his chances by playing poorly, and at other times like this weekend he just didn’t perform well enough on Sunday when all those around him had and the course seem to be playing relatively easy, had he done so, he would be the Champion golfer this morning.
He played well, just not well enough to get the job done, he didn’t need a great round to win yesterday, above average would been enough. Winning on Sunday should not have been hard for him.
Hard to disagree with anything there. I think McIlroy’s career should not be defined by the last 8 years without a major. How many great players and hall of famers have less majors than him? He’s still young, he has plenty of time and the only reason he hasn’t added to his major haul since 2014 is because they’re so bloody hard to win.
McIlroy has had a phenomenal career to date and it can only get better. He said it himself that his legacy is already secured and he’s a hall of famer already. I think he’ll get at least two more majors before he’s done in 15 years or so. Two doesn’t seem like a big number in that space of time, but it absolutely is.
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