Rory, "If I didn’t win another Major for the rest of my career, nothing is going to change in my lif

[new2g0lf]

yes, just like spieth handed willet his green jacket. You see how this works? it's golf.

I think that's the point people have been making for the most part.....

 

did we really just mention Willet as a Masters champion?

 

Lets not rewrite history here. He won the 1996 world series of golf which was a WGC before those started and when he won the tour championship in 2000 he chased down Tiger on sunday and overtook him. He beat tiger in the year 2000 twice down the stretch. the fawning was justifiable because one guy won 3 majors and 9 times overall and phil won 4 times so taking down tiger on sunday was a big deal. thats the difference. When Phil got out of his own way and Tigers unmaintanable level dropped amid a swing change he took off in majors. Phil is 1000 times more resilient than Rory ever will be. As for how Phil would be treated we already know. he was a punching bag for the media until he won the big ones. Dan Jenkins openly mocked him many times.

 

That's my point. A lot of what people say about Rory on here reminds me of what the media said about Phil in the nascent-internet days. You know, a kind of goofy guy prone to saying dumb things, someone whose mental weakness prevents them from realizing the full extent of their unbelievable talent. Of course Phil used to get crap for being out of shape while Rory gets crap for working out too much, and Phil could only win on easy courses while it's soft courses for Rory.

 

BUT.

 

By age 29 Rory has won four majors, a bunch of money titles, a few scoring titles, and so on. By age 29 Phil had won the World Series of Golf.

 

I really don't see how I'm rewriting history about that. At the time the World Series of Golf win was seen as an aberration in his career (it was also the year before TW turned pro). It wasn't until four years later when he won the Tour Championship over TW that they started writing the 'Phil has arrived and has learned how to win the big ones' articles (again, keep in mind at that point he was a year older than Rory currently is). And then it took Phil another four years to win a major.

Phil had to compete with an aging Jack and up and coming Tiger. Rory could be dominating the Tour now as there isn't an equivalent Jack or Tiger in their prime to contend with today.

Tommy Fleetwood?

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or delusional.

[tsecor]

.

Tommy Fleetwood?

 

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or delusional.

More joking around because saying there is no jack or tiger (in his prime) out there right now was sort of funny to me.....ya think? only 2 of the top 5 golfers of all time! Tiger really didn't have hardcore competition during his time either....but Jack did.

[jmck]

Phil had to compete with an aging Jack and up and coming Tiger. Rory could be dominating the Tour now as there isn't an equivalent Jack or Tiger in their prime to contend with today.

 

Jack was 52 when Phil turned pro and hadn't won since the '86 Masters.

 

Would Phil have been dominant without Tiger around? Nah, probably not IMO. He doesn't have that type of game. Phil's a streaky player, just like Rory. The guys who suffered the most in the Tiger era were the steadier guys: Els, Singh, Goosen, Furyk, etc.

 

Rory doesn't have anywhere near the consistency to dominate the tour like TW did. No one does. I think Rory's A game is a notch better than his peers, and he's proven he can dominate for six months or a year when he gets hot. Will that happen again? Time will tell. But if you're looking for someone to dominate like Tiger did looks to me like you're going to have to wait another generation or two. The combination of talent, drive, and sheer force of will that Tiger had at his peek doesn't come along all that often.

[tsecor]

Joaquin Niemann is the new tiger.....

[Shilgy]

I read that last sentence as an admission of failure so far. I don't think that you can say that without meaning you feel incomplete.

 

Now I'll give this. The question becomes will it motivate or become a defeated attitude ?

The last sentence is a failure? The same thing Jack is celebrated for doing? The same thing Tiger has been hammered for not doing?

 

“But at the same time, there are other things in my life that are more important than golf.”

[tsecor]

The pressure to get that grand slam must be immense......

[Shilgy]

When Phil was Rory's age he was five years away from winning a major and had a reputation for never showing up in the big tournaments and only winning cupcake events like Phoenix or the Bob Hope or that Stableford one they used to have in Colorado. Heck, it was regarded as his big break through when he won a freakin Tour Championship, at the ripe old age of 30, after eight years on tour. That's what was considered his first big win--I remember the fawning press coverage well.

 

No doubt if golfwrx was around back then there would've been all sorts of threads about how mentally weak he was. And Phil turned out okay last I checked. Look up what Rory's done in his first eight years on tour. I think he'll turn out okay too.

 

Lets not rewrite history here. He won the 1996 world series of golf which was a WGC before those started and when he won the tour championship in 2000 he chased down Tiger on sunday and overtook him. He beat tiger in the year 2000 twice down the stretch. the fawning was justifiable because one guy won 3 majors and 9 times overall and phil won 4 times so taking down tiger on sunday was a big deal. thats the difference. When Phil got out of his own way and Tigers unmaintanable level dropped amid a swing change he took off in majors. Phil is 1000 times more resilient than Rory ever will be. As for how Phil would be treated we already know. he was a punching bag for the media until he won the big ones. Dan Jenkins openly mocked him many times.

 

That's my point. A lot of what people say about Rory on here reminds me of what the media said about Phil in the nascent-internet days. You know, a kind of goofy guy prone to saying dumb things, someone whose mental weakness prevents them from realizing the full extent of their unbelievable talent. Of course Phil used to get crap for being out of shape while Rory gets crap for working out too much, and Phil could only win on easy courses while it's soft courses for Rory.

 

BUT.

 

By age 29 Rory has won four majors, a bunch of money titles, a few scoring titles, and so on. By age 29 Phil had won the World Series of Golf.

 

I really don't see how I'm rewriting history about that. At the time the World Series of Golf win was seen as an aberration in his career (it was also the year before TW turned pro). It wasn't until four years later when he won the Tour Championship over TW that they started writing the 'Phil has arrived and has learned how to win the big ones' articles (again, keep in mind at that point he was a year older than Rory currently is). And then it took Phil another four years to win a major.

Phil had to compete with an aging Jack and up and coming Tiger. Rory could be dominating the Tour now as there isn't an equivalent Jack or Tiger in their prime to contend with today.

Jack was 52 and a very rare competitor by the time Phil started in '92. That is like saying Jack's competitors started with Hogan ans went to include Tiger. Just a bit of a streeeeeetch.

[Ignatius Reilly]

 

To me that reeks of indifference. He'd like to win another Major but if he doesn't life is okay. Of course if Rory doesn't win a Major he will be okay but a true competitor imo doesn't make those kinds of obvious statements. I interpreted it as a basic concession that winning majors is no longer a top priority for him and that he wants us all to know it.

 

If my son told me his life will be okay if he doesn't get A's in college, we'd be having a discussion about what his real priorities are and why he's even bothering to go to college.

 

Maybe they've read this book:

 

Why "A" Students Work for "C" Students and "B" Students Work for the Government: Rich Dad's Guide to Financial Education for Parents

by

Robert T. Kiyosaki

[denvergolf]

Not just in sports but you see people with a single minded focus to accomplish a goal. And then, when they finally do, it's not as fulfilling as they thought it would be.

 

Like David Duval,

 

"He eventually admitted that he asked himself, Is that all there is? Winning the claret jug, getting to No. 1 and finally claiming a major championship didn't make him feel fulfilled. He was a lonely warrior, a smart guy with a lot of other interests that made golf seem less fascinating after going at it hard for a decade and a half."

 

http://www.golf.com/...erboard-us-open

I agree, but why does he now keep grinding and humbling himself every year?

 

I don't know if it's an exact, if any, parallel to Duval. Seems like he wants to win but not be obsessed with it.

 

As far as why he still plays....

 

The guy plays golf for a living, is still very competitive, can win anytime

 

And he makes a fortune doing it.

Im assuming the last 3 sentences reference Rory, not Duval. Duval is essentially doing it now because he does enjoy and miss it, certainly not for the missed cut checks...