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Jordan Spieth Vs. Rory McIlroy: Golf’s New Rivalry

By Billy Dowling

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For years we begged for this, a true rivalry in golf, our own Ali Vs. Frasier or Manning Vs. Brady.  There was an opportunity with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, but even that fight lacked a true puncher’s chance.  We are finally on the verge of golf’s next best rivalry, Rory McIlroy Vs. Jordan Spieth.  Get used to it folks because these two aren’t going anywhere for a while.

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Coming off his record setting performance at Augusta, Spieth is now the darling of the sports world.  The humble 21-year-old did everything he possibly had to do on his way to lapping the field and adding a brand new Green Jacket to his wardrobe.  From start to finish he was the man in charge and looked as if he was golf’s Superman.  He made every putt and kept the mistakes to a minimum.  Golf’s biggest tournament also seems to be a perfect fit for Spieth.  In his two appearances he’s slept on the 54-hole lead twice, has a runner-up finish and a victory, and the most astonishing stat is that he has never been outside the top 5 in his 8 rounds there.

Then there’s Mciloy who struggled for 27 holes until finding his game in round two and then roaring his way to a 4th place finish.  The world’s best player competed well in his first chance to win the career grand slam, and hopes will be high when returns to Augusta in 2016.  He now will set his sights on the rest of the season, where he hopes to duplicate last summer when he won back-to-back majors.

Since Rory’s win at Europe’s BMW PGA Championship last May, these two have won a combined 9 times worldwide including the last three majors.  Rory has done it with a powerful swing, and towering shots the cut through the sky.  Spieth does all the little things, and does them all really well.  They have all the ingredients for a perfect rivalry and the future of the sport is relying on it.

It also works out nicely that the two are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the Ryder Cup.  Tiger and Phil’s “rivalry” always had to be put on hold when it came to golf’s biggest team event.  The cranky relationship between the two was even put on display when Hal Sutton paired them in 2004.  We had to watch as two little schoolgirls got their doors blown off.  Spieth and McIlroy wil go head-to-head in Ryder Cups for years to come.  Can you imagine a duel between the two in Sunday singles?  It’s the dream scenario that we never had a chance to see from Woods vs. Mickelson

In the years since Woods limped his way to his last major championship in 2008 golf has been starving for a superstar.  Yes Tiger is still the center of attention whenever he rarely tees it up, but that goes away as the week goes on.  He no longer wins and has actually only finished one tournament in over a year.  McIlroy and Spieth do everything that Tiger used to do and they can give us the true rivalry that we never had before.

Stats from ESPN.COM

Next: Graeme McDowell Leads & Spieth Struggles

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