Rory McIlroy - 4 Time Major Winner

FixdePitchmark

Dav010 wrote: »

Now this is daft.

With improvements in the lengths all the top players hit the ball, the short game is often the difference between winning and not winning.

He can putt, at times, but not consistently, too often his touch on the green deserts him. And so far he has not been able to fix this issue in his game, I don’t see how you are so sure he can do more than he is already doing to address this.

It is very easy for him to do more , he has no card concerns, facility concerns, coaching concerns.

It is desire.

But there is a definite change in Rory this year. He is working with different people and seems far more focused.

I'm very confident

Dr Devious

Dr Devious wrote: »

If you see him winning anything, even a major then it’s purely based on a hunch, even the most misguided follower couldn’t make a case for him based on what he’s doing on the golf course.

4th, 5th, 4th, 2nd, and currently 7th this tournament, is his last 5 starts its hardly a stretch to see him winning a tournament, any tournament at that

FixdePitchmark

Deleted User wrote: »

4th, 5th, 4th, 2nd, and currently 7th this tournament, is his last 5 starts its hardly a stretch to see him winning a tournament, any tournament at that

This is it.

He is playing at the top level and finishing near top nearly every time out.

People are talking as if he is Jean van de Velde

FixdePitchmark

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

But , why do people think he can't fix these things.

Its bizarre.

Every pro out there fixes stuff. Yet for some strange reason Rory is doomed.

Yes the forum is about Opinions , some are accurate , some are daft.

If people are saying Rory will not win a major again - you know what to think of their opinions. They also don't understand that there is so much more to golf than " he can't putt". You can win majors by gaining tee to green.

But anyway
He can putt
He can fix any issue in his game
He will win another (IMO)

'Rory is doomed', reaching for the hyperbole. It's pointless trying to put words in other peoples' mouths. Rory has a superb long game, which allied with a competent short game would lead to more majors. At his age, only a moron would write him off prematurely. Currently, he can't putt but ideally that will change in the near future. It would be churlish to think otherwise. I just don't believe he'll sport the green jacket in April.

FixdePitchmark

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

It is very easy for him to do more , he has no card concerns, facility concerns, coaching concerns.

It is desire.

But there is a definite change in Rory this year. He is working with different people and seems far more focused.

I'm very confident

Its the most focused I think I've seen him in years and the game is in really good nick

Dr Devious

He’s number 1 off the tee at the moment according to pga tour stats, about 35 on approaches to the green and 45 on putting based on his last 18 events, you don’t need to see stats for what your own eyes are telling you. What he did a few years ago mean feck all to him today, he’s clearly not the same player today.

FixdePitchmark

Deleted User wrote: »

'Rory is doomed', reaching for the hyperbole. It's pointless trying to put words in other peoples' mouths. Rory has a superb long game, which allied with a competent short game would lead to more majors. At his age, only a moron would write him off prematurely. Currently, he can't putt but ideally that will change in the near future. It would be churlish to think otherwise. I just don't believe he'll sport the green jacket in April.

Agree April will be tight. But with a player at his level. It can be only the slightest thing to cause a big improvement.

It isn't necessarily a sort of linear improvement. He could literately just click.

Mushy

He's consistently putting himself in the mix, he will get the bit of luck every player gets to get it over the line!

FixdePitchmark

Mushy wrote: »

He's consistently putting himself in the mix, he will get the bit of luck every player gets to get it over the line!

This is it.

It is not even a hunch. It bloody obvious.

HighLine

Mushy wrote: »

He's consistently putting himself in the mix, he will get the bit of luck every player gets to get it over the line!

But he is also consistently falling away on Sundays. He proves his game is in great shape for a few rounds but it's almost a mental thing now for the final round.

FixdePitchmark

by the way - there is no doubt that it is harder for Rory these days.

The top lads - make the putts , don't go away and get very close towards the end of events.

There is a savage bunch there at present who are exceptionally good and finish strong.

The general quality in the field has gone up.

HighLine

HighLine wrote: »

But he is also consistently falling away on Sundays. He proves his game is in great shape for a few rounds but it's almost a mental thing now for the final round.

Even if it is a mental thing its not like something that can get better, these guys have coaches for everything now.

He didn't putt well today one of the worst in the field but his putting is getting better on average and putting is the highest variant in golf

I'm not saying you are but it's mad for people to be writing off a golfer with his set of results recently

Edit

I will also say I think the new age of golfers who are as good or maybe better then Rory off the tee might be the spark he has needed to work on his game harder in every facet

FixdePitchmark

Again pure opinion.

But would agree this bunch are a wake up call to Rory .

He needs to work as hard and care as much . He seen wasn't as good.

HighLine

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm not saying you are but it's mad for people to be writing off a golfer with his set of results recently

Yes I'm most definitely not doing that. I've been telling people he is going to win big soon and I also had him backed for this week.

The Sunday is an issue however but I agree with Radar and think that will be quickly resolved after he gets one win again under his belt.

Mushy

HighLine wrote: »

But he is also consistently falling away on Sundays. He proves his game is in great shape for a few rounds but it's almost a mental thing now for the final round.

I think his falling away is due to trying to blow the opponents away. He doesn't do percentage plays, if he did, he'd easily get a few more scores.

The talk today is he fell away in the final round again....He had the same score on Thursday. Tis a fickle game

HighLine

HighLine wrote: »

Yes I'm most definitely not doing that. I've been telling people he is going to win big soon and I also had him backed for this week.

The Sunday is an issue however but I agree with Radar and think that will be quickly resolved after he gets one win again under his belt.

Yes apologies for inferring that, I forget myself at times when I reply to people directly after reading the thread and trying to make a point.

I think the course over Saturday and Sunday played to similar ish augusta standards especially on the greens

Oddly enough I seen Rory with 2 or 3 mud balls during the weekend, which may have been down to his flight apex or bad luck but it certainly effected one of his approaches on Saturday and maybe sunday

And he was first in strokes gained Saturday and 6th on Sunday so it seems he could.

Normally I'd like some rain forecast in the masters for Rory to win but even without it I still think he could do it this year,

Deeper Blue

I do reckon he'll win soon but I thought he'd win tonight tbh. It's slightly worrying that he didn't get over the line but surely he can't keep playing this well and not win? Don't think I'd fancy him next week though.

Just had a quick gander there and Rory has only gained strokes putting at the players once in 6 visits

Has gained strokes ott massively in 3 events, was ok (for him) in 2 and was break even in 2 (both times he missed the cut)

Given the move of the players they reckon it should play longer this year then normal given expected temperature and possible fairway speeds

He wasn't in my early thoughts but I might just rethink that

prawnsambo

Well I thought the two lads might cancel each other out and that's how it ended up. Playing against each other and Frankie Molinari sneaks up on the rail and passes them at the turn.

It was the same as yesterday, the lads out later had to contend with the greens firming up and it caught them. Incidentally, seems mad that they were getting mud balls on the fairway. How much water did they put down?

Dav010

prawnsambo wrote: »

Well I thought the two lads might cancel each other out and that's how it ended up. Playing against each other and Frankie Molinari sneaks up on the rail and passes them at the turn.

It was the same as yesterday, the lads out later had to contend with the greens firming up and it caught them. Incidentally, seems mad that they were getting mud balls on the fairway. How much water did they put down?

To be fair, you have to go down to T15 for another player not under par, and almost two thirds of all players were even or better in the final round.

Greens in the US nearly always harden as the day goes on and temperatures rise and, if you are right, Rory is being “cancelled” by his playing partner quite consistently now, is this 8 final groups in a row without a win? Matt Fitzpatrick is a good player, but as you guys never tire of telling us, Rory has 4 majors and multiple wins.

prawnsambo

Dav010 wrote: »

To be fair, you have to go down to T15 for another player not under par, and almost two thirds of all players were even or better in the final round.

Greens in the US nearly always harden as the day goes on and temperatures rise and, if you are right, Rory is being “cancelled” by his playing partner quite consistently now, is this 8 final groups in a row without a win? Matt Fitzpatrick is a good player, but as you guys never tire of telling us, Rory has 4 majors and multiple wins.

You're not really disagreeing with me here. Two thirds of the players were out a good bit before the final group. At the end, McIlroy was reportedly the only player to hold the 17th green from the tee. And even then, he was putting from the fringe. Molinari had an exceptional round. The rest of his tournament was pretty average. It's kind of funny that you refer to Rory being cancelled when both himself and FitzPatrick had pretty similar rounds. Just a shot between them. I actually thought they both played very well. Compared to Molinari, not so much, but who was going to beat a round of 64? Look down the leaderboard and you find the world number one finishing with rounds of 75 and 77. Or Bryson de Chambeau tied for 46th.

The big criticism of McIlroy has been inconsistency. He's been anything but this year. It's probably been one of his most consistent starts to a year. Time will tell if he can keep it going.

Hitch2222

Dav010 wrote: »

To be fair, you have to go down to T15 for another player not under par, and almost two thirds of all players were even or better in the final round.

Greens in the US nearly always harden as the day goes on and temperatures rise and, if you are right, Rory is being “cancelled” by his playing partner quite consistently now, is this 8 final groups in a row without a win? Matt Fitzpatrick is a good player, but as you guys never tire of telling us, Rory has 4 majors and multiple wins.

It's probably worth highlighting that he adds another Top 6 finish to his already stellar showing this year so far.
I don't think his failure to win a final round pairing is indicative of anything.
It's not as if the presence of Matt Fitzpatrick is intimidating him. Golf is an incredibly high variance sport but he's consistently putting himself in position at the end of tournaments.
I have no doubts it will click but even if it doesn't he's still producing some very consistent golf, though im sure a player like him wants wins

GreeBo

Keano wrote: »

You don’t get 4 majors and countless wins without being able to putt! It’s the consistency in the short stick that’s the issue. He was excellent yesterday and in the final round in Mexico

If you dont putt consistently then you are not a good putter.
Sure you have better and worse days, but the good days for Rory are very rare and below average days seem to be his average.

Remind me wrote: »

He has had 5 out of 5 top 5’s this season, you would currently be picking him for a major above most players.

He will win won if either the stars align for 4 days or, imo more likely, the rest of the field hands it to him and his typical top 5 turns into first.

GreeBo

Strokes Gained Putting YE positions:

2018 - 97
2017 - 141
2016 - 135
2015 -
2014 - 41
2013 - 118
2012 - 88
2011 -
2010 - 145

surprising actually as they would seem to say he is pretty much always below average.

prawnsambo

GreeBo wrote: »

He will win won if either the stars align for 4 days or, imo more likely, the rest of the field hands it to him and his typicaly top 5 turns into first.

It's not really typical if he has only done it once before though. And I checked back. The last time he had consistent Top 10s at this stage of the season, was 2012 when he had five before The Masters. We'll see how the next few weeks go, but it's a sign of consistency that we haven't seen for a long time.

GreeBo

prawnsambo wrote: »

It's not really typical if he has only done it once before though. And I checked back. The last time he had consistent Top 10s at this stage of the season, was 2012 when he had five before The Masters. We'll see how the next few weeks go, but it's a sign of consistency that we haven't seen for a long time.

Is it that his good rounds are getting better or that his bad rounds aren't as bad I wonder?

He doesnt seem to be throwing in a 75 these last few weeks, instead its a bit like yesterday where we get a level par when the rest of the field is -3.
But I would still take that as a sign of improvement tbf.

Nonoperational

Nobody is saying he isn’t a top class player with amazing skills. It’s just he isn’t world class at the moment or have any sort of killer instinct. That many final groups without a win is indicative of a very good player, lacking the world class winners mentality.

This could of course change.

prawnsambo

GreeBo wrote: »

Is it that his good rounds are getting better or that his bad rounds aren't as bad I wonder?

He doesnt seem to be throwing in a 75 these last few weeks, instead its a bit like yesterday where we get a level par when the rest of the field is -3.
But I would still take that as a sign of improvement tbf.

Yeah. That's the way I see it too. Now he didn't beat Matt FitzPatrick which is a bit of a blot on the copybook, but there was only a shot in it. He should have done better on the par fives, but he was getting a bit of a fade on his long irons that I don't think he was intending.

If I was to critique his putting, I'd say he's giving them a bit too much bovril and he's burning edges where a little less weight could have them dropping. There were a few yesterday where he went five foot past, which is a bit of a knee trembler for your par. Having said that, we're only talking about a few shots better over four rounds. I think he's quite capable of doing that if he can tidy up a bit.

Hitch2222

Nonoperational wrote: »

Nobody is saying he isn’t a top class player with amazing skills. It’s just he isn’t world class at the moment or have any sort of killer instinct. That many final groups without a win is indicative of a very good player, lacking the world class winners mentality.

This could of course change.

I find that the vast majority of criticisms of McIlroy outside of the putting are often focused on things that are not quantifiable "killer instinct" or "winners mentality".

Dav010

Hitch2222 wrote: »

I find that the vast majority of criticisms of McIlroy outside of the putting are often focused on things that are not quantifiable "killer instinct" or "winners mentality".

True, but sometimes being a top class player is not enough to win, what’s between the ears is equally important. How many times during Woods career did he grind out wins when playing badly or injured? When you watch that documentary on sky about him, he said if he was in the last or next to last group, he always thought he would win.