Rory McIlroy vs Tiger Woods: It’s No Contest
This week is the tale of two very different stories. One golfer returned in hopes of his game rising like a Phoenix from the Arizona desert. Another was trying to show us why he’s the game’s best. Tiger Woods’ two days at the Waste Management Phoenix Open was a struggle that we’ve never seen from him before. The man was a complete shell of himself and Friday afternoon he was on the first private jet back to Florida. Rory McIlroy on the other hand is doing exactly what we expected him to do, sitting on top of the leaderboard in the mid east, and doing that with ease.
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For Tiger everything went wrong in Phoenix. His new/old swing went right, and then it went left. He missed plenty of greens and when he tried to chip or pitch his way on to them things only got worse. This left Tiger with his worst professional performance ever and him on his way home trying to pick up the pieces.
"“I was caught in between old patterns and new patterns. It’s golf we all have days like this unfortunately mine was in a public forum. We all have days like this we take the good with the bad and on bad days like this you have to keep fighting.” (Credit PGATour.com)"
Rory on the other hand has been tremendous at the Dubai Desert Classic. For the number one player in the world he’s expected to be this good and he’s living up to the billing. Right now he seems to be in cruise control and there may be nothing that will stop him. After shooting 66 and 64 the first two rounds, he scorched the field with an opening nine 30 on Saturday leading to another 66 and a four stroke lead.
"“I’m very happy. I feel like I could be a little bit more (ahead) but I’m not going to complain. I’m four ahead going into the final day, so I’ve put myself in a great position to win tomorrow. I just have to go and try and play similar golf to the way I have the first three days. I’ve been in this position many times before and I know the pitfalls that are waiting out there; it’s just a matter of sticking to the same game plan, being aggressive, making committed swings and giving myself as many chances for birdies as I can.” (Credit EuropeanTour.com)"
It’s almost eerie how different the two players are right now. Rory has the confidence and on the course results that Tiger used to have. He even speaks like Tiger used to. There’s a plan in place for Rory each time he steps on a golf course and for the past year he has been executing that flawlessly.
For Woods you can’t over look that fact that he’s going through another swing change. This has worked for him before but the hole he’s had to climb out of has never seemed this deep. He’s never looked this “normal.” I’m not saying that Rory has looked completely invincible since his dominating U.S. Open victory in 2011, it’s just he’s never looked this bad. Even his “off” year of 2013 wasn’t this much of a struggle. Blame it on off the course distractions, equipment changes or the perils of constant public scrutiny, Rory never fell as far off the map as Tiger has right now.
Aug 10, 2014; Louisville, KY, USA; PGA golfer Rory McIlroy reacts after winning the 2014 PGA Championship golf tournament at Valhalla Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
In 2013 Rory struggled, but he was never non competitive. Yes there was his bizarre withdrawal at the Honda Classic and he never won on the PGA Tour but he did pick up five top tens including an eighth place finish in the PGA Championship. It did take him eleven months to pick up his first win worldwide and he did it in dramatic fashion at the Australian Open, with a birdie on the 18th to steal the trophy from the home country’s shining star, Adam Scott.
A victory over a major winner and five top tens, and we called that an “off year.” That’s because at this point it’s all about the majors for Rory, but he came back in a big way in 2014. How good was he? Well, he picked up sixteen top tens, nine top fives and four wins. Those wins included three in a row that was bookended by two majors. Now that’s how you bounce back from a so-called “off year.”
Tiger on the other hand is officially in a full-blown slump. It’s been seven years, three different swings and countless medical issues since he last won a major. Yes during Rory’s hiatus from the winner’s circle in 2013, Tiger was the player of the year, but now he’s tumbled completely off the mountaintop. Currently he’s barely even a factor and the talk around him is completely dominated by what has gone wrong. There’s no top tens or top five finishes to give us hope that his swing is working and his body his healthy. Instead there are wayward drives, nightmarish short game performances, a last place finish, and even more questions to be answered.
Woods has now dropped out of the Top 50 in the world for the first time in three years, and is on the verge of not qualifying for a World Golf Championship for only the second time in his career. Tiger has become just a regular player on tour and it looks like he may be there for a while. For Rory he’s risen the game’s highest level once again. So while golf fans starve for a Rory vs. Tiger showdown, we are seeing that for right now that it’s no contest.
Stats provided by ESPN.com