Jordan Spieth or Rory McIlroy: Who Will Have the Bigger 2016

Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /

Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy, two of the brightest young stars in golf, should have a compelling rivalry in 2016.

Still basking in the glow of his spectacular 2015 season, Jordan Spieth is changing things up a bit. In years past, he’s remained in his native United States in the month of January, preparing for and playing in events like the Sony Open in Hawaii and the Farmers Insurance Open.

This year, however, the 22-year-old has a new destination in the queue: the United Arab Emirates, where he’ll be teeing it up at this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy is also in the UAE this week, but for him, it’s a much more routine stop–he’s a European Tour member who’s played in Abu Dhabi in each of the past eight years. Having rested since his win at the DP World Tour Championship, McIlroy will kick off what should be yet another strong season.

Put it together and we have a compelling scenario on our hands: the top ranked American and the top ranked European will be vying for the same trophy for the first time since the WGC-HSBC Champions back in November. Both men have become household names, their accomplishments known by diehard fans and average people on the street alike, but it’s still worth taking a look back on just how much they’ve dominated the game over the past two years.

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Spieth’s accomplishments over the last twelve-or-so months are still fresh in the collective memory. After going winless in 2014, Spieth was criticized for his inability to close out tournaments. That all changed in March when Spieth took the Valspar Championship in a gutsy sudden death performance over Patrick Reed and Sean O’Hair.

The win started a torrid run that culminated with Spieth slipping into a green jacket on Sunday afternoon at the Masters: his first major win. Over the next several months, the Texan maintained his breakneck pace, winning the U.S. Open, finding the top five in the other two majors, and ultimately hoisting the FedEx Cup.

Given all of that, it’s easy to forget about McIlroy’s greatness in 2014. After a shocking comeback victory at the BMW PGA Championship, he was able to carry his spectacular form into the summer and win the year’s last two majors, the third and fourth of his career.

Major Wins

When all is said and done, a golfer’s greatness is measured at the majors, so major victories will play a big part in the rivalry between Spieth and McIlroy. While winning even one of the big four is immensely difficult, keep in mind that these two players have combined to win half of the last eight majors–it’ll be a surprise if they get shut out this year. In his career, McIlroy has won four majors in 28 starts. Spieth has notched two in 12, a slightly better rate. Still, it’s the total amount of hardware that matters, and McIlroy has the advantage here. It’ll be interesting to see if Spieth can further close the gap in 2016.

Regular Wins

Majors are a vitally important part of a golfer’s legacy, but they aren’t the only events that matter. Between the PGA and European Tours, McIlroy has won 17 events in his career–given that four of those are majors, he seems to be an eventual lock to get into the World Golf Hall of Fame someday. Spieth has hoisted just seven PGA Tour trophies, but he won five of those in 2015 alone, a sign of bigger and better things to come. In fact, he has more wins at 22-and-a-half than Tiger Woods did at the same age. Again, we have here a case of Spieth’s lightning pace against McIlroy’s more impressive career resume–we’ll see if the Texan can make up any ground.

Top 10 Finishes

Lately, Spieth has held the advantage here, posting a staggering 18 top 10s in 27 starts around the world. Not that McIlroy has been slouching–the Northern Irishman went 11-for-20 in 2015, a positively outstanding rate. Since Spieth makes more starts, he’ll likely rack up more top 10s this year, but McIlroy manages to catapult himself towards the top of the leaderboard more often than not. Unless one has a down-year, expect them to be pretty even when it comes to this criterion.

Ryder Cup Performance

Not to be forgotten is the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National Golf Course. Barring something unforeseen, Spieth and McIlroy will be representing their respective teams this fall, and it could provide one of the most dramatic flashpoints of their rivalry to date. In three appearances, McIlroy holds a record of 6-4-4, definitely nothing to sneeze at (remember, even greats like Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus didn’t have truly dominant Ryder Cup records). In his only Ryder Cup appearance back in 2014, Spieth went 2-1-1, but he’s gone 5-4 in two Presidents Cups. All things considered, they’ve got pretty even records in team match play. The Ryder Cup may be an exhibition, but if either Spieth or McIlroy can lead his team to victory, it’ll be a big story for their rivalry.

Next: Young Guns: 10 Golfers Under 25

Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy McIlroy are 1st and 2nd round playing partners at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, and it begins in a few hours. Don’t miss it!

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