Rory put on a round for the ages at the 94th PGA at Kiawah Island, SC. Two rounds actually. 67 in the third round, 66 in the final round with 23 putts. Amazing stuff. How good is this guy? Graeme McDowell said that he’s once in a decade, while Tiger is once in a generation. I’m not sure I agree with Graeme. McIlroy could be a once in a generation guy, too. He’s got the talent. When he’s putting well, he’s unstoppable.That putting exhibition yesterday was extraordinary. That was a once in a decade putting exhibition. The last time I saw putting like that was Retief Goosen at the 2002 U.S. Open. Rory’s ball striking is usually always there, but when he putts, he’s the best in the game. Can he win 10-15 majors, then come close to Jack? That’s very hard to say. He’s got two. Only 16 left to catch Jack and 17 to beat him. That’s will take 20 years of superlative play in the majors. But he is 23 years old and three months. He’s got 23 to 25 good years left if you measure age by Jack’s final major victory when he was 46 at the ’86 Masters. What’s amazing to me is that Rory’s only the sixth youngest guy to win two majors. Tom Morris was the youngest at 18 years, four months in 1868-69. Gene Sarazen was next at 20 years and five months. Then came Johnny McDermott, Seve and Jack. As great as he was, Seve won only five. He’s one of the greats of all-time so it shows how hard it is to win anywhere close to as many as Jack did. Tiger’s numbers are phenomenal, but they’re kind of fading in the rear view mirror as he hasn’t won a major in four years. His window is closing a little bit more with each passing major.
And look at the depth of this tour. It’s going to be hard for Rory to get more than five. Keegan Bradley looks elite. Jason Dufner possibly could be elite. There are the young guns in their early 30s; Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell, Hunter Mahan, Bubba Watson, Adam Scott, Brandt Snedeker and Louie Louie. Then there are your 20-something guys like Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Charl Schwartzel and Martin Kaymer. There are vets in their later 30’s and early to mid, even late-40’s like Lee Westwood, Padraig Harrington, Jim Furyk, Ernie, Steve Stricker, David Toms, Phil, even Vijay who are still very competitive. Other lesser known guys like Robert Garrigus and Gary Woodland and so many more young Americans and Europeans. The depth is almost unlimited. And there are guys on the Web.com tour shooting -2o to -24 to win tournaments. Twenty five more will be coming in this year. They’re young and very hungry. There are a lot of hungry guys on the tour, too, who want majors. Tiger’s going to have a hard time getting to Jack’s record and Rory has a huge uphill climb just to get to Watson, Gary Player and Arnie numbers, the seven-eight category. Rory’s got to get to the ultra-elite, which in my opinion, are Seve, Trevino and Faldo. Ernie and Phil are close to that. Ernie has four majors like Phil, so they’re elite. But I think ultra-elite begins with Seve at five, and Faldo and Trevino at six.
But Rory’s play yesterday proved he can be an ultra-elite player. In the Seve, Faldo, Trevino grouping of ultra-elite guys. Can he then get to Arnie then Watson, Player- status and then matriculate higher to Hogan, Tiger and even Nicklaus standards? I wish I had a clear answer for that. It’ll be very hard. But he’s 23 so it’s not out of the question. He can get to the five-six major plateau that’ll get him to Seve, Trevino and Faldo-status. He can possibly get to the Watson, Player Arnie status. But Tiger, then Jack, that’s a tough one. He’s got such a long way to go for that. He does have 92 majors to do that before he’s 46. He needs to stay healthy. That’s a factor, too. If he gets injured, you never know. It’s just too hard to predict at this point. I know I’m in the prediction business, but with the enormous amount of talent, and the unpredictability of who will win what major, I say it’s not likely he’ll reach Nicklaus. He may not reach Phil and Ernie. He’s got to have to have the commitment to do that and he’s young and likes the night life I’m sure, so his commitment to be ultra-elite is a question mark with all the distractions he’ll have. He dates that tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. Could be, could not be. There are so many factors in play here, that predicting he’s absolutely going to challenge Tiger, Jack is not reasonable. I don’t think he will. Faldo, Trevino, Seve-status seems more reasonable to me.
But right now he just needs to concentrate on the Ryder Cup and then look to win a third major at Augusta in ’13. That’s the way he should look at it at this stage of his career. But right now, one can safely say, Rory is the best player in the world.