CJ Cup 2021

[TiScape]

4 hours ago, MattyO1984 said:

He gamed it! Saw a post talking about him doing something he had never done before and that was winning an event without a Scotty Cameron in the bag. Of course that didn’t work out for him and as a Titleist fan boy all I can say is that it was nothing more than he deserved 😂

129’ putt for eagle on 18 Sunday that he hit ~85’. He definitely hits that to within 30’ with his Scotty! 🤣

[aenemated]

5 hours ago, MUNIGRIT said:

Rory has about 1 percent of Tiger's drive

 

To be fair, there's only been one other guy in the history of the professional game that had that same drive - and that was Jack. And it could certainly be argued that even he didn't entirely. 

[puttingmatt]

Congrats Rory, 

[bscinstnct]

1 hour ago, aenemated said:

 

To be fair, there's only been one other guy in the history of the professional game that had that same drive - and that was Jack. And it could certainly be argued that even he didn't entirely. 

 

TWs drive level was probably magnified by his realization that

 

He could, and really should, beat the absolute crap out of everybody!

 

Like you see it in Rory 1.0, or Spieth 1.0. BK even. These guys, intensity to the max, it’s what gets them to dominate.

 

Spieth dominated that year. Didn’t he come within a small handful of shots from winning a grand slam?

 

But then, the fire dies a little cause you realize, you really can be beat. You slip a notch. I assume it gets easier to rest on your laurels and ease off on putting so much pressure on yourself. 
 

Even BK admits that there are guys out there who can beat him. 
 

The difference with TW and Jack is,

 

They know nobody should beat them. 

They had the toolbox. Tee to green to hole, they knew their game was a cut above. It was an insult to their very being to not win cause they knew they were the best. 
 

Different type of “drive” there. The others think “I can win”. TW and Jack think, “I should win” every time. 
 

Rory had that but I’m sure he realized, he just don’t have the skills to do it. Not every time like TW and Jack. 
 

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by bscinstnct

[miamistomp]

1 hour ago, aenemated said:

 

To be fair, there's only been one other guy in the history of the professional game that had that same drive - and that was Jack. And it could certainly be argued that even he didn't entirely. 

How about this guy

 

[bscinstnct]

20 minutes ago, miamistomp said:

How about this guy

 

 

There you go. Another guy who knew nobody had any business playing him ; )

[jgonz69]

I’ll take Rory when it’s all done

 

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by jgonz69

[stinger_gc]

8 hours ago, MUNIGRIT said:

Not sure why you are comparing Tiger to Rory? Rory has about 1 percent of Tiger's drive, competition for wins is not even close, money they make now really kills this guys drive fast when transitioning to other aspects of life. I don't think Rory gets to over 40 wins.

Exactly. Rory is content with what he's achieved golf but at the same time I saw a lot of passion at the Ryder Cup on Sunday and obviously yesterday. Athletes like Naomi Osaka are soft AF, they don't have the intensity or passion like Tiger. Osaka hasn't dealt with 1/10 of the crap that Tiger's had to deal with from an injury or personal life standpoint. Boo hoo Naomi you have to speak to the press after a poor tournament. Tiger has been ridiculed by the press every day since Thanksgiving 2009.

[_jc13]

Is Ricky back? Loved watching him play well, was pulling for him to get the win, but also happy Rory got his 20th win.

[playit]

8 hours ago, _jc13 said:

Is Ricky back? Loved watching him play well, was pulling for him to get the win, but also happy Rory got his 20th win.

 

I was extremely impressed with his play, first time I have ever watched an entire two rounds with him in contention. Surprised he is hits it so long.

[seis]

20 hours ago, bscinstnct said:

Youre right, of course.

 

Just for some reason, with Champions, I always feel like I’m watching like a mens softball game 😬

I’m waiting for the day on the Champions Tour when you see a player crack open a cold one on the course to go with a cigar😂

[dropkicked]

27 minutes ago, seis said:

I’m waiting for the day on the Champions Tour when you see a player crack open a cold one on the course to go with a cigar😂

Surely, Big John did this already..  😂

 

[Dave230]

11 hours ago, _jc13 said:

Is Ricky back? Loved watching him play well, was pulling for him to get the win, but also happy Rory got his 20th win.

Rickie's driver swing looked really good, hit some cracking drives. Strangely an old strength of short to mid-range putting has completely deserted him. But getting the swing back will put him in good shape going forward.

[Cincy_Ken]

11 minutes ago, Dave230 said:

Rickie's driver swing looked really good, hit some cracking drives. Strangely an old strength of short to mid-range putting has completely deserted him. But getting the swing back will put him in good shape going forward.

It definitely looks promising.  But he's been around a long time.  It's hard to believe after over 10yrs on tour he's all of a sudden going to be an elite ball striker.  Time will tell.

[aenemated]

14 hours ago, miamistomp said:

How about this guy

 

 

I'll allow it 🙂

[aenemated]

13 hours ago, jgonz69 said:

I’ll take Rory when it’s all done

 

 

 

Man, I always forget Phil didn't win a major till he was like 35. 

[jmck]

41 minutes ago, aenemated said:

 

Man, I always forget Phil didn't win a major till he was like 35. 

Yeah not just that, but for a loooong time he had a reputation of not just not winning majors, but not winning anything big at all. Look at his pre-2000 wins and there’s nothing too prestigious in there. The Bob Hope, Hartford, Phoenix, stableford formats and so on, over and over. I remember when he won the Tour Championship over TW in 2000 and people were like ‘okay maybe he’s FINALLY ready to actually start winning big ones,’ and it STILL took him another four years to win a major. Never won a scoring title, never won a money title, never #1 in the world.

 

Meanwhile, Rory is over here, like…..fastest to [insert achievement] excepting [Jack, Tiger, and occasionally Tom Watson] in the modern era. And golfwrx is like…..Rory is washed, unmotivated, lazy, done, and can only win on soft courses anyway.

 

Bizarre, I tell you.

[DON SVO]

4 hours ago, playit said:

 

I was extremely impressed with his play, first time I have ever watched an entire two rounds with him in contention. Surprised he is hits it so long.

 

There's video of him and Charlie Rymer on the range with a Trackman going "long drive" and Rickie hit 123 or 124mph. His swing change dropped a ton of speed over the past few years, but whatever he is doing recently is increasing his speed and his swing is looking way better.

 

Ball speed for Rickie Fowler:

 

2014 - 174.14

2015 -  174.37

2016 - 175.78

2017 - 172.37

2018 - 173.70

2019 - 174.52

2020 - 171.21

2021 - 171.80

2022 - 174.90

[bscinstnct]

18 minutes ago, jmck said:

Yeah not just that, but for a loooong time he had a reputation of not just not winning majors, but not winning anything big at all. Look at his pre-2000 wins and there’s nothing too prestigious in there. The Bob Hope, Hartford, Phoenix, stableford formats and so on, over and over. I remember when he won the Tour Championship over TW in 2000 and people were like ‘okay maybe he’s FINALLY ready to actually start winning big ones,’ and it STILL took him another four years to win a major. Never won a scoring title, never won a money title, never #1 in the world.

 

Meanwhile, Rory is over here, like…..fastest to [insert achievement] excepting [Jack, Tiger, and occasionally Tom Watson] in the modern era. And golfwrx is like…..Rory is washed, unmotivated, lazy, done, and can only win on soft courses anyway.

 

Bizarre, I tell you.

jmck! 
 

After Phil won the Open, I was struck by his comments in one interview. He said he was never sure he could win an Open, that he could develop all the shots needed to win one. I wasn’t sure if he was being serious, I just assumed that, as far as golf skills go, Phil has had the game to win anywhere for a long time. It was just execution. But he made it sound like, as his career has progressed, he has acquired more shots, more skills.

 

I guess this can happen for Rory. In fact, his game is very straight forward. If he’s bombing it nice and putting well, he can win. But maybe he really needs to work on the others aspects of his game that enable him to win even when those things aren’t in perfect sync. 

[jmck]

7 minutes ago, bscinstnct said:

jmck! 
 

After Phil won the Open, I was struck by his comments in one interview. He said he was never sure he could win an Open, that he could develop all the shots needed to win one. I wasn’t sure if he was being serious, I just assumed that, as far as golf skills go, Phil has had the game to win anywhere for a long time. It was just execution. But he made it sound like, as his career has progressed, he has acquired more shots, more skills.

 

I guess this can happen for Rory. In fact, his game is very straight forward. If he’s bombing it nice and putting well, he can win. But maybe he really needs to work on the others aspects of his game that enable him to win even when those things aren’t in perfect sync. 

Yeah, and IIRC, Phil said a bunch of similar things about his mental game after finally winning the Masters in 04, that basically he really had to work at improving it over time.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not here to dump on Phil—in fact his mental game on the weekend at Kiawah is one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen in the game—but he had some absolutely massive holes in his game in the early part of his career, despite his success. I remember even when he won the Buick at Westchester, that was supposed to be a turning point, like ‘oh okay, maybe he can win tournaments on tough tracks that aren’t total shootouts.’ And that was after he’d been on tour nearly a decade and won like a dozen times!

 

Anyway, point is, the prevailing wisdom on golfwrx seems to be that Rory is well past his prime, and I don’t see it that way at all. It’s entirely possible the second half of Rory’s career is just as good as the second half of Phil’s career. And Rory’s first half has been unquestionably better IMO.

[aenemated]

27 minutes ago, jmck said:

Yeah not just that, but for a loooong time he had a reputation of not just not winning majors, but not winning anything big at all. Look at his pre-2000 wins and there’s nothing too prestigious in there. The Bob Hope, Hartford, Phoenix, stableford formats and so on, over and over. I remember when he won the Tour Championship over TW in 2000 and people were like ‘okay maybe he’s FINALLY ready to actually start winning big ones,’ and it STILL took him another four years to win a major. Never won a scoring title, never won a money title, never #1 in the world.

 

Meanwhile, Rory is over here, like…..fastest to [insert achievement] excepting [Jack, Tiger, and occasionally Tom Watson] in the modern era. And golfwrx is like…..Rory is washed, unmotivated, lazy, done, and can only win on soft courses anyway.

 

Bizarre, I tell you.

 

Yeah, it is. 

 

I feel like there's this insane expectation in the modern game, like when some kid with serious talent - like Rory - comes out, he's expected to put up relentless Tiger-like performance. Spieth kinda got hit with that too. 

 

Oddly, doesn't seem like JT has been subject to that expectation despite being - I think - the youngest with the most wins currently. I guess because he didn't come out the gate winning multiple majors like Spieth? 

 

There's only what, like 40 guys in history that have 20 or more wins on tour?

 

Being only 32, I can totally see Rors getting to 40+. 

[jgonz69]

Just think if mickelson was as smart as he portrays himself on Instagram, twitter, interviews etc. he would’ve won a lot more tournaments. His shotmaking decisions were the most risky in the situations where the shot he made was not the best one. He is probably the best golfer who’s talent was so great it overcame his tiny mental golf game.

[gsrjc]

7 hours ago, Dave230 said:

Rickie's driver swing looked really good, hit some cracking drives. Strangely an old strength of short to mid-range putting has completely deserted him. But getting the swing back will put him in good shape going forward.

His swing still looks so flat and I always thought that was an issue people noted. 

[stinger_gc]

1 hour ago, jgonz69 said:

Just think if mickelson was as smart as he portrays himself on Instagram, twitter, interviews etc. he would’ve won a lot more tournaments. His shotmaking decisions were the most risky in the situations where the shot he made was not the best one. He is probably the best golfer who’s talent was so great it overcame his tiny mental golf game.

Agreed.  Thing about Phil is you don't know if his next shot will be brilliance or utter stupidity. That entire back 9 at Kiawah I was waiting for him to blow up TBH. I definitely thought he was gonna skull one in the water on 17 after he hit it over the green. As a Phil fan, even though he lead by 4 or 5 at one point on the back I figured it was still 50-50 he'd close out that tournament. It wasn't truly over til he hit the 18th green.

[jgonz69]

5 hours ago, PHILsThemannnn said:

Agreed.  Thing about Phil is you don't know if his next shot will be brilliance or utter stupidity. That entire back 9 at Kiawah I was waiting for him to blow up TBH. I definitely thought he was gonna skull one in the water on 17 after he hit it over the green. As a Phil fan, even though he lead by 4 or 5 at one point on the back I figured it was still 50-50 he'd close out that tournament. It wasn't truly over til he hit the 18th green.

And just think that Phil is this huge sports bettor makes it all the more of a head scratcher. I mean what are the odds of all thing things that had to line up for Phil to win the PGA on that course and at his age, and with his swashbuckling background. Just a freaking miracle, and if you bet on him you only got a fraction of the odds there should’ve been. 

[Dave230]

14 hours ago, jmck said:

Anyway, point is, the prevailing wisdom on golfwrx seems to be that Rory is well past his prime, and I don’t see it that way at all. It’s entirely possible the second half of Rory’s career is just as good as the second half of Phil’s career. And Rory’s first half has been unquestionably better IMO.

I think we've seen so many players have mid-career dips and recover, it's a long career for these golfers, 20-30 years is very difficult to maintain level constantly, only a few players have done that (Rory better than almost anyone actually).

 

Fowler looked done and looks much better again. Spieth lost it completely, now looks like he can win majors again. Garcia struggled to swing the club for a while, then eventually won the Masters in stunning fashion. Westwood finished a year 5th, then two years later finished one 182 in the world, then eight years later finished up 1st in the world.

 

Moral of the story, never write anyone off. Golf is a fickle game, for better or for worse, and something could click for Rory all of a sudden - just look how he was at the Ryder Cup to how he was last week.