Rory McIlroy - 4 Time Major Winner

prawnsambo

abff wrote: »

Just looking at the OWGR, Rory has scored over 100 world ranking points more this season than the next highest scorer, Brooks Koepka. He's now just over 1 point behind Koepka in the world rankings and could be number 1 by year end if he finishes the Race to Dubai strongly.

His fourth year to score four wins or more. And only bettered by 2012 when he had five. Obviously no majors, but he should be happy enough with the progress. Best year since 2016.

rooney30

Seems to have all the momentum now to reclaim number 1 spot. All of the haters around here seem to have gone to ground these past few months

prawnsambo

abff wrote: »

Just looking at the OWGR, Rory has scored over 100 world ranking points more this season than the next highest scorer, Brooks Koepka. He's now just over 1 point behind Koepka in the world rankings and could be number 1 by year end if he finishes the Race to Dubai strongly.

I could be wrong, but I'm calculating (very roughly) that he'll be about three quarters of a ranking point behind Koepka after this win. His points are heavily weighted towards this year as last year was pretty dismal.

abff

prawnsambo wrote: »

I could be wrong, but I'm calculating (very roughly) that he'll be about three quarters of a ranking point behind Koepka after this win. His points are heavily weighted towards this year as last year was pretty dismal.

I think you're overlooking the fact that the number of tournaments played by Rory over the past two years will increase by one, while the number played by Brooks will remain unchanged.

Banner2theend

Our "esteemed" national broadcaster RTE's shameful golf coverage, hit a new low tonight in the Six One News. A 45 second report and half-hearted it most certainly was, about Rory's outstanding win in the WGC-HSBC Champions earlier today, was imo most insulting to Rory and to Irish golf.

Whatever people's opinions about Rory, that does RTE no favors, who many feel don't give the recognition or respect to sportspeople or people in the North in general, that they deserve. They certainly don't represent the 32 counties of this island, that the Donnybrook based station "proclaim" that they do.

prawnsambo

abff wrote: »

I think you're overlooking the fact that the number of tournaments played by Rory over the past two years will increase by one, while the number played by Brooks will remain unchanged.

Ah, the divisor maxes out at 52. I forgot that. Thanks. Getting a difference of 0.9 with that.

prawnsambo

Banner2theend wrote: »

Our "esteemed" national broadcaster RTE's shameful golf coverage, hit a new low tonight in the Six One News. A 45 second report and half-hearted it most certainly was, about Rory's outstanding win in the WGC-HSBC Champions earlier today, was imo most insulting to Rory and to Irish golf.

Whatever people's opinions about Rory, that does RTE no favors, who many feel don't give the recognition or respect to sportspeople or people in the North in general, that they deserve. They certainly don't represent the 32 counties of this island, that the Donnybrook based station "proclaim" that they do.

RTE are crap at sports full stop. Always felt that Ryall Nugent leaving was a huge marker as to where they were going on that front. When the head of sports decides it's time to go, that's pretty much all you need to know.

blackcard

abff wrote: »

Just looking at the OWGR, Rory has scored over 100 world ranking points more this season than the next highest scorer, Brooks Koepka. He's now just over 1 point behind Koepka in the world rankings and could be number 1 by year end if he finishes the Race to Dubai strongly.

Rory said he is only going to play 1 more tournaments this year and then he is taking a 2 month break

Mantis Toboggan

Crazy that this is only his 3rd WGC.

Dog Murphy

Banner2theend wrote: »

Our "esteemed" national broadcaster RTE's shameful golf coverage, hit a new low tonight in the Six One News. A 45 second report and half-hearted it most certainly was, about Rory's outstanding win in the WGC-HSBC Champions earlier today, was imo most insulting to Rory and to Irish golf.

Whatever people's opinions about Rory, that does RTE no favors, who many feel don't give the recognition or respect to sportspeople or people in the North in general, that they deserve. They certainly don't represent the 32 counties of this island, that the Donnybrook based station "proclaim" that they do.

What level of coverage would you expect.

I would imagine it's fairly standard level of coverage for a win by an Irish golfer in a non major event.There is a full report up on the RTE website about McIlroys win.

Banner2theend

Rory McIlroy's performances throughout 2019, have been mind-blowing. On top of his 4 wins this calendar year, he has achieved some other notable stats of note in 2019 that I saw via twitter. 18 Top 10 finishes. 11 Top 5 finishes. He also achieved 4,000 World Golf Ranking points, making him the second youngest player to accomplish this feat, since the World Rankings were introduced in the mid 1980's.

His work with his short irons has improved immensely throughout the year. His putting looks far more consistent. His short game look really impressive, he openly said after round two in China, that he has such confidence in that part of the game. Add to his supreme talents off the tee and with his towering long irons, then we can start to get very excited about what Rory could achieve in 2020.

His longtime coach Michael Bannon, is the last survivor of Rory's inner circle since he turned pro in 2007. That says it all really about how trustworthy Michael is to Rory. Bannon has done an extraordinary job with Rory's swing this year. The improvements with his short irons compared to earlier in the year have been huge. I noticed in the Farmers Insurance Open in Torrey Pines in late January, he was dropping the club on the inside, primarily due to Rory losing his height on the downswing. To me that major improvement in that part of the game has been the most visible feature, of why Rory is beginning to return to the peak of his powers like in 2014.

Personally regardless of whether its Koepka or Rory at number one in the world, IMO its Rory all the way. He is a far more accomplished and consistent golfer than his great rival and is a better all round golfer that Brooks. However the big caveat is the return of the Tiger. His performance at the ZOZO Championship, where he put in his most impressive all round performance for quite some time, is a clear warning to his rivals that Tiger is going nowhere. Providing he stays healthy, which has always been the 15 time major champion's achilles heel, than I can see no reason why Woods can't go on and become the most successful major winner and beating Jack Nicklaus' 18 major successes within 4 years or so.

However for now we can only marvel at what 2020 can bring. Can Rory and Tiger become the biggest rivalry in golf in the next 12 months? Can Brooks Koepka continue to walk and walk like he can talk the talk, that this cocksure young American has us all believing? Those are two of the many questions of what the the new year will be like in the world of golf. But isn't it great that Rory is back to his best and is clearly on an upward curve.

He is certainly in a far more better place than where he was 12 months ago, where he looked like he was lost and needed to find that inspiration and motivation, that made him the top dog as recently as 2014 where he was head and shoulders the best golfer in the world after collecting the Open Championship, WGC Akron event and the US PGA, a week later, in what was a sparkling period in his game. He is getting that momentum back.

The world of Rory looks in far better health and while 2019 was undoubtedly a huge year of redemption for McIlroy, 2020 could well be the year that the 4 time major winner can dominate the game again and for all his huge supporters, all of the signs point towards Rory really putting on the accelerator button and becoming the top of his profession again. Exciting times ahead indeed!!!

Caquas

Banner2theend wrote: »

Rory McIlroy's performances throughout 2019, have been mind-blowing. On top of his 4 wins this calendar year, he has achieved some other notable stats of note in 2019 that I saw via twitter. 18 Top 10 finishes. 11 Top 5 finishes. He also achieved 4,000 World Golf Ranking points, making him the second youngest player to accomplish this feat, since the World Rankings were introduced in the mid 1980's.

His work with his short irons has improved immensely throughout the year. His putting looks far more consistent. His short game look really impressive, he openly said after round two in China, that he has such confidence in that part of the game. Add to his supreme talents off the tee and with his towering long irons, then we can start to get very excited about what Rory could achieve in 2020.

His longtime coach Michael Bannon, is the last survivor of Rory's inner circle since he turned pro in 2007. That says it all really about how trustworthy Michael is to Rory. Bannon has done an extraordinary job with Rory's swing this year. The improvements with his short irons compared to earlier in the year have been huge. I noticed in the Farmers Insurance Open in Torrey Pines in late January, he was dropping the club on the inside, primarily due to Rory losing his height on the downswing. To me that major improvement in that part of the game has been the most visible feature, of why Rory is beginning to return to the peak of his powers like in 2014.

Personally regardless of whether its Koepka or Rory at number one in the world, IMO its Rory all the way. He is a far more accomplished and consistent golfer than his great rival and is a better all round golfer that Brooks. However the big caveat is the return of the Tiger. His performance at the ZOZO Championship, where he put in his most impressive all round performance for quite some time, is a clear warning to his rivals that Tiger is going nowhere. Providing he stays healthy, which has always been the 15 time major champion's achilles heel, than I can see no reason why Woods can't go on and become the most successful major winner and beating Jack Nicklaus' 18 major successes within 4 years or so.

However for now we can only marvel at what 2020 can bring. Can Rory and Tiger become the biggest rivalry in golf in the next 12 months? Can Brooks Koepka continue to walk and walk like he can talk the talk, that this cocksure young American has us all believing? Those are two of the many questions of what the the new year will be like in the world of golf. But isn't it great that Rory is back to his best and is clearly on an upward curve.

He is certainly in a far more better place than where he was 12 months ago, where he looked like he was lost and needed to find that inspiration and motivation, that made him the top dog as recently as 2014 where he was head and shoulders the best golfer in the world after collecting the Open Championship, WGC Akron event and the US PGA, a week later, in what was a sparkling period in his game. He is getting that momentum back.

The world of Rory looks in far better health and while 2019 was undoubtedly a huge year of redemption for McIlroy, 2020 could well be the year that the 4 time major winner can dominate the game again and for all his huge supporters, all of the signs point towards Rory really putting on the accelerator button and becoming the top of his profession again. Exciting times ahead indeed!!!

Thanks for an excellent assessment of Rory’s achievements this year. He really has had a renaissance which has put him back on top of the world. The Irish media grossly underestimate him and we had a scandalous example this evening when RTE relegated his triumph in Shanghai this weekend to a 10 second clip at the very end of an extended Sunday evening sports news segment which gave greater prominence e.g. to GAA club matches. Is the RTE sports editor brain dead or is there a vendetta against Rory?

Dog Murphy

Caquas wrote: »

Thanks for an excellent assessment of Rory’s achievements this year. He really has had a renaissance which has put him back on top of the world. The Irish media grossly underestimate him and we had a scandalous example this evening when RTE relegated his triumph in Shanghai this weekend to a 10 second clip at the very end of an extended Sunday evening sports news segment which gave greater prominence e.g. to GAA club matches. Is the RTE sports editor brain dead or is there a vendetta against Rory?

Gaelic Games are a much bigger sport than Golf in Ireland.

This was not a major championship therefore for the average sports fan it has no real significance and doesn't merit the coverage a golf fan would think it should.

prawnsambo

Caquas wrote: »

Thanks for an excellent assessment of Rory’s achievements this year. He really has had a renaissance which has put him back on top of the world. The Irish media grossly underestimate him and we had a scandalous example this evening when RTE relegated his triumph in Shanghai this weekend to a 10 second clip at the very end of an extended Sunday evening sports news segment which gave greater prominence e.g. to GAA club matches. Is the RTE sports editor brain dead or is there a vendetta against Rory?

As I said above RTE have just given up on sports coverage. Anything that they don't cover themselves, they hardly cover at all because they won't pay for the footage and won't pay for the staff to cover it either.

Dr. Bre

Rory will win a major next year

Dr. Bre

Dr. Bre wrote: »

Rory will win a major next year

Rory had a great year last year.

But its no gimme, i'm hoping the open experience is one that makes him grow as a person and player and the masters seems like less of a thing to him now

Dav010

prawnsambo wrote: »

As I said above RTE have just given up on sports coverage. Anything that they don't cover themselves, they hardly cover at all because they won't pay for the footage and won't pay for the staff to cover it either.

I don’t think that is a fair assessment. Golf lags a long way back in popularity compared to Gaelic Games, soccer, Rugby etc. Personally I didn’t watch this tourno, not just because I wasn’t interested, mainly because the live coverage was in the middle of the night and watching highlights is no fun when you know the result. I am not sure if RTE showed Katie Taylor’s fight, but I think that would be far more important than spending a huge amount to cover a wheelbarrow competition in China. The tournaments this time of year are called wheelbarrow comps by the pros because of the huge prize money they offer to get golfers to play in them.

By all accounts Mcilroy played exceptionally well, I heard him interviewed this morning and he said he has worked particularly hard on his wedge/putting so that he is now more confident of getting up and down/making birdies when out of position. That’s great, hopefully a good year ahead including a major.

Out of interest, looking at the finishing score board, was there a cut? There are a couple of big names missing.

Edit: it’s the Presidents cup, must be on soon, PGA tour website says Schauffle is the only US team member who agreed to play as defending champion.

GreeBo

rooney30 wrote: »

Seems to have all the momentum now to reclaim number 1 spot. All of the haters around here seem to have gone to ground these past few months

I'm genuinely curious as to who you think isn't posting these last few months?'

slave1

No cut at that tournament

callaway92

There’s never cuts in WGC events

prawnsambo

abff wrote: »

I think you're overlooking the fact that the number of tournaments played by Rory over the past two years will increase by one, while the number played by Brooks will remain unchanged.

And you were pretty spot on with the points difference. 1.08 behind Koepka now. Exactly 100 more points gained this year than him too. Spot on twice. :cool:

18 top ten finishes this year out of 23 starts. He's never had that before. 16/24 is the best up to now, in 2012 and 2014.

fullstop

GreeBo wrote: »

I'm genuinely curious as to who you think isn't posting these last few months?'

You’re not though, are you?

GreeBo

fullstop wrote: »

You’re not though, are you?

I am though, hence why I asked.

Otherwise the original post is just thanks-whoring and perpetuating the myth that discussing a player somehow makes you "a hater".

Remind me

Banner2theend wrote: »

His longtime coach Michael Bannon, is the last survivor of Rory's inner circle since he turned pro in 2007. That says it all really about how trustworthy Michael is to Rory. Bannon has done an extraordinary job with Rory's swing this year.

There are more people than just Bannon. Following the dropping of Horizon a few others are still in his team.

Mantis Toboggan

prawnsambo wrote: »

And you were pretty spot on with the points difference. 1.08 behind Koepka now. Exactly 100 more points gained this year than him too. Spot on twice. :cool:

18 top ten finishes this year out of 23 starts. He's never had that before. 16/24 is the best up to now, in 2012 and 2014.

18 top 10's from 23 starts is phenomenal, surely a record?

Dav010

fullstop wrote: »

You’re not though, are you?

What are you hoping for when you post this? A couple of pages of off topic crap usually follows. Do you need validation that much that you have to get those that have a different opinion, to agree with you?

slave1

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

18 top 10's from 23 starts is phenomenal, surely a record?

Tiger 2000 PGA record....

21 Tournaments
18 Top Tens including 9 wins (3 Majors) and 4 runner ups

blue note

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

Crazy that this is only his 3rd WGC.

It's not really. They're similarly hard to win to the majors. Dustin Johnson has 6 and Tiger 16, but after them Rory is joint 3rd for WGCs won.

And that's some season above for tiger. When you look at records there's an argument to list records including and excluding tiger because he's so far ahead in everything.

GreeBo

blue note wrote: »

It's not really. They're similarly hard to win to the majors. Dustin Johnson has 6 and Tiger 16, but after them Rory is joint 3rd for WGCs won.

And that's some season above for tiger. When you look at records there's an argument to list records including and excluding tiger because he's so far ahead in everything.

16 WGCs is unreal.

Mantis Toboggan

slave1 wrote: »

Tiger 2000 PGA record....

21 Tournaments
18 Top Tens including 9 wins (3 Majors) and 4 runner ups

We'll be a while waiting for that to be topped. Superb.