Stop me if you’re heard this before: Player X is the new Tiger Woods.
Sergio Garcia, Anthony Kim, Camillo Villegas, Hunter Mahan, et. al. All of these have been anointed by a hysterical golf press as the New Tiger. But all have turned out to be pretenders—the Perkin Warbecks of Golf.
Now add to the list of Next Great Things, Rory McIlroy. By virtue of his win in Dubai last week, McIlroy has been feted by the golf press and declared to be the legitimate heir. With the King in exile, it seems that a single victory is all you need.
Not that there aren’t intriguing parallels. Like Tiger, McIlroy took up the clubs at an early age, and has shown prodigious talent as a youth. But seriously. One victory?
Fueling the fire is the news that Perkin Rory will play a practice round with Tiger at Augusta. In the minds of the press—who, absent Tiger to write about—that constitutes a Royal Blessing and the naming of the Heir.
To his credit, McIlroy seems to be deflecting the praise. Perhaps he’s seen what Tiger does to people who dare challenge his position. Or perhaps he recalls that Perkin was imprisoned by Henry VII and hanged for his impertinence.
You’ll forgive me if I take a wait and see approach.
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I was watching the European Tour coverage this past weekend and the announcers there said that Mark O’Meara had in fact compared Rory to Tiger and said that Rory was better than Tiger when Tiger was Rory’s age. Don’t know how Mark knew Tiger when Tiger was 19, but that’s beside the point. I don’t think you can fully blame the media for the Tiger Challenger of the Week claim this time when you’ve got players like O’Meara saying it too.
Mark O’Mera actually compared the ball striking of the two, and said Rory was better. He failed to compare putting, chipping, pitching, bunker play, mental toughness, which of course Tiger was ahead of Rory at 19. I share a similiar view on the situation but a little more shooting from the hip style approach. Check it out http://www.undergroundgolf.co.uk
Well, you can cross O’Meara off the Woods’ Christmas Card list
I hadn’t heard those comments, but they’re really ridiculous, all things considered. By age 19, Tiger had won six Junior World Championships, three US Junior Amateurs, three US Amateurs and the NCAA Golf Championshiop. McIlroy can’t match those accomplishments.
I don’t think it would be wise to compare McIlroy with Woods. Winning a tournament at the of 19 is worth appreciating but his style and technique of playing is different from Woods.
http://thatgolfplace.com/