Rory V Jordan and the rest ?

FixdePitchmark

Between last season and the start of this. We have got to know Spieth a bit more.
He isn't powerful - but an unreal putter and incredible short game
He has amazing desire and drive. Incredibly energetic, into his golf and very professional.

He also has great imagination and hands and youthful exuberance .
Then you have Day and Reed and D Johnsons chasing him.

This is a silly event - so you shouldn't read into it too much.

But for so long I was thinking Rory was miles ahead of these guys - but these lads play more golf and seem to have more desire ?

So question is - Has Rory lost a bit of ground ?
Is he playing too little competitive golf against these guys ?

Or do we know, he can turn it on way above them when it suits ?

Rory doesn't seem to play a lot of competitive golf. Wins and getting use to winning is becoming the norm for Spieith ?

We will see a bit more of Rory in the other silliness of Dubai, Speith will be up against him - but is sort of home turf for Rory .

Will be more interesting when they face each other in US in Feb, then it is masters.

I sort of want a shoot out between the two of them at Augusta.

I'd honestly find it hard to see how Rory can catch him by then ? - But Rory is the last man in the world to ever have doubts about.

redzerdrog

I think if they all play there absolute best golf then Rory wins against Spieth and the rest of the chasing pack.

But I think Speith is more likely to produce close to his best more often than Rory is.

finglashoop

redzerdrog wrote: »

I think if they all play there absolute best golf then Rory wins against Spieth and the rest of the chasing pack.

But I think Speith is more likely to produce close to his best more often than Rory is.

I think at their best spieth beats rory. I think its Jordan v the rest to be honest. His lack of
"power" is.negligible when compared to the so called bigger hitters.

Macker1

finglashoop wrote: »

I think at their best spieth beats rory. I think its Jordan v the rest to be honest. His lack of
"power" is.negligible when compared to the so called bigger hitters.

I would tend to agree..........

Drive for show and Putt for dough is very apt in this case.

Spieth blows Rory out of the water when it comes to putting.

redzerdrog

Rory is a very streaky putter that is why I said Spieth more likely to bring his A game on any given week.

But if Rory is on top of his game (including putting well) he shades it imo.

ShriekingSheet

I'd agree at the moment, Spieth's putting outdoes Rory, if we're speculating on both head to head on their good days.

The thing I'd be concerned about from Spieth's point of view is that his success is over a very short period so far, and he's only putted brilliantly. How likely is it that he won't always putt brilliantly over the next year or two (quite, I'd say), and what attributes in his game suggest he can win without putting brilliantly? Few, I'd suggest.

Where Rory might get him in the medium term is how many times have we seen Rory play awkward holes, leave shots out there, and still win? Spieth, to his credit, has been rolling in long-ish par putts in particular for months on end. I just don't think anyone can keep doing that for years, and when he doesn't, I don't see him winning with his "B game", as they say.

Look at Snedecker, G Mac, Luke Donald or Stenson's stand alone amazing seasons over the last few years. Their core weapon (maybe more so the first three, but do remember Stenson's struggles off the tee) was putting. All brilliant players, but none of them sustained dominance.

Who knows, and Spieth's mental game could be the sustaining factor that'll help him win for decades, rather than putting, but I'm always just a bit wary of the guy who can't miss with the putter. Too often it's a purple patch, or will be a series of them.

Mantis Toboggan

I think Spieth is too far ahead now. Rory needs to start playing more.

Rory at his best is as good as or even better than Spieth, but I think Spieth is much more consistent and wins 8/10

benny79

Tyson Fury wrote: »

I think Spieth is too far ahead now. Rory needs to start playing more.

Rory at his best is as good as or even better than Spieth, but I think Spieth is much more consistent and wins 8/10

I agree totally. Plus I think he has lost ground and doesn't play nearly enough as Spieth does!! I also think it be hard to knock Spieth off the no1 spot.

I was only thinking to myself last night I wonder was Rory watching and will it spur him on to catch Spieth! I'm sure he's not happy not been no 1.

But I do also think that this is the year Rory wins the Masters! you heard it here first

finglashoop

I think Spieths putting is just there, like rorys power. He may be playing ok but will still have that natural putting ability. It's such a precise art and i think he is naturally that good so will probably, on average day for him, be above the average tour player.

Is he going to have bad days? he better or we cant use that as an excuse when we are out hacking around.

Ollieboy

Spieth is miles ahead of them all and I think he's the real deal. He as no distractions and eats, sleeps golf at the moment.

Rory is in love again (another mistake, but I hope not) and I don't think he plays enough. He compares himself to Tiger/Jack, but travelling was harder even for Tiger then it is today. He should be playing a lot more on the PGA Tour and I can't see how his sponsor are happy with how little he does play. He's so worried about burn out instead of winning. I personally think Rory has under achieve in the last couple of years and should have at least 2 more majors to his name. Spieth seems to have the hunger and wants to win more at the moment.

I even think Spieth could catch Jacks record, I wonder what odds you get on him. I think Spieth is looking at the record books and he could break a lot of records starting with most wins for a player under 23.

Head to head Spieth will beat Rory more times then Rory will beat him and I think Rory knows it already.

PARlance

benny79 wrote: »

I agree totally. Plus I think he has lost ground and doesn't play nearly enough as Spieth does!! I also think it be hard to knock Spieth off the no1 spot.

I was only thinking to myself last night I wonder was Rory watching and will it spur him on to catch Spieth! I'm sure he's not happy not been no 1.

But I do also think that this is the year Rory wins the Masters! you heard it here first

Is this the same Rory that was being questioned about over playing last year?
He basically played non stop for about 3 months from the Masters to the US Open. He was fairly phenomal during that period too.

Montgolfier

I think Spieth has the edge on Mcilroy mentally. When you see Spieth miss a putt or two you don't see his head drop. Where as Mcilroy needs a putt to drop to get momentum going and when he miss one he collapses.
There are certain courses Mcilroy will do better than Spieth but I don't think one of those courses is Augusta. I don't ever see Mcilroy winning there albeit I hope I'm wrong.

First Up

Montgolfier wrote:

I think Spieth has the edge on Mcilroy mentally. When you see Spieth miss a putt or two you don't see his head drop. Where as Mcilroy needs a putt to drop to get momentum going and when he miss one he collapses. There are certain courses Mcilroy will do better than Spieth but I don't think one of those courses is Augusta. I don't ever see Mcilroy winning there albeit I hope I'm wrong.

I don't think Spieth is immune to pressure. Remember his collapse against GMac in the RC - he looked lost well before the end.

That said, he is in some vein of form and I like how he works with his caddy; there is still something about Rory/JP that doesn't look quite right to me. (I'm sure I'll be berated for that.)

Some cracking battles ahead but they won't have it all their own way either.

castle

Again people picking who is better rather than enjoying the 2 of them and the chasing pack like Messi and Ronaldo people should just enjoy and try not put labels on them .

First Up

castle wrote:

Again people picking who is better rather than enjoying the 2 of them and the chasing pack like Messi and Ronaldo people should just enjoy and try not put labels on them .

I fully intend to enjoy them both - and all the rest. No labels and I'm bored to tears with the OWR stuff. Lets see who wins tournaments, not need a calculator to decide who is best.

Russman

It's all ifs & ands & opinions obviously, but IMHO I think Rory is light years ahead of them all (and not just current players either). I think his ball striking will likely always be there and as such he'll be in contention a lot. All he has to do is putt half decently and he wins. I do think he needs to play more, but at the same time, scheduling can be awkward for the guys at the top, everyone wants a piece of you and you can't please them all.
I don't believe, in the long term, that Speith will continue the vein of long putting form he's in at the moment (maybe he will, who knows, I've never seen anything like it before). But it seems like he has to hole several long putts to be in contention and if even one of those per round doesn't go in, he's back in the pack most times. That's not a criticism of any sort, the putts go in, but he's a professional and he's trying to hole them, it's not like they're accidents. It's like the fella you always hear after losing an inter club match ".......yer man held 3 fifteen footers, what could I do ?" - yeah, well, he was trying to hole them !!

Fix, not sure I'd agree that the event in the desert is slightly lesser (if that's what you meant, apologies if not) than when they go head to head in the states, it's probably a better course and field than most PGA tour events.

vienne86

I feel right now that Spieth is better because he seems to be more consistent - Rory is a bit streaky. BUT Rory has been on tour a hell of a lot longer than Spieth. I think it is very hard to judge yet, but it will be interesting to see how things stand after another couple of seasons.

Tom.D.BJJ

Russman wrote: »

It's all ifs & ands & opinions obviously, but IMHO I think Rory is light years ahead of them all (and not just current players either). I think his ball striking will likely always be there and as such he'll be in contention a lot..

Strongly agree with this, and not just because Rory is one of ours. I would love if he played more, but you know what, if that's how he keeps his love for the game then good on him.

sky88

Spieth is the better of the two i think. His putting is streets ahead of rory as said above rory is a streaky putter but rory is streets ahead in driving.

Rory iron play is not as good as it should be he doesnt get close to the pin a lot for how good a driver he is, i also feel if he is hitting his irons better it would help his putting.

Ollieboy

Tom.D.BJJ wrote: »

Strongly agree with this, and not just because Rory is one of ours. I would love if he played more, but you know what, if that's how he keeps his love for the game then good on him

I think this is the issue, people think more highly of Rory because he is Irish, but Spieth has been a huge star in the US at under age before turning pro, similar to Woods in a lot of ways. He won the US Junior Amateur twice and the only other player that did that was Woods. He was also no 1 in the World Junior Rankings. He was also the 6th youngest player to ever make the cut at a pro PGA event and ended up finishing 16th in that actual event and was hugely success at College wining 3 events. At his first Major he came 21st as a amateur and also top the World Amateur Rankings.

This guy as been winning for a very long time already and if anyone thinks he's just running hot, well the results say different.

I reckon Spieth will win a medal in Brazil this year and 1 if not 2 majors. Rory will have 4 top 5 finish in the Majors and no medal in Brazil.

benny79

Rory will definitely win 1 if not 2 majors this year you can count on that! especially since he missed 2 last year.

FixdePitchmark

benny79 wrote: »

Rory will definitely win 1 if not 2 majors this year you can count on that! especially since he missed 2 last year.

If Rory wins 2 majors (which he can) - he won't have to worry about Spieth at all then.

BigChap1759

Similar to above I think Rory wins if both playing their best but Jordan is just so consistent and his putting is off the charts - even when playing average he sinks a crazy amount of putts.

I think Rory will have to do something very special to get No.1 back this year

redzerdrog

It is a treat to able to enjoy two phenomenal talents though.

The group in behind are not half bad either. Day, Dustin, Rickie, Bubba, Rose are pretty good and well capable of winning Majors

Montgolfier

Ok if they're paired together in the final round of the masters. Spieth is not playing great tee to green but he's holing putts from long distance. I believe this will have a negative effect on Mcilroy game. Like we saw when Spieth and Stenson were paired at the tour championship.
Tbh it would kill my game in matchplay if my opponent was holing putts from all angles.

Rikand

redzerdrog wrote: »

The group in behind are not half bad either. Day,

Day who is currently world number 2

mike12

If Rory didn't miss so much of last season I reckon we wouldn't be having this discussion he was in super form at the time and I think he would have won one if not both of the majors he missed.
Should be a great battle in the next few years.

sky88

benny79 wrote: »

Rory will definitely win 1 if not 2 majors this year you can count on that! especially since he missed 2 last year.

No one is guaranteed to win a major

Mantis Toboggan

What annoys me with Rory is that it's takes him a few competitions to get into his stride and the more he plays the better he gets but he takes so much time off, the competition are getting too far ahead of him and he can't catch up.

FixdePitchmark

Rikand wrote: »

Day who is currently world number 2

Yes - I think Day makes things even more interesting.

He seems to have everything in place to win ---- only thing is if that vertigo is still active.

augustus gloop

We could be entering another era of the"big 3" along with DJ and a few others. Golf is in a great place at the minute. Watched the review of the TOC yesterday. Is JS putting masterclass the greatest ever showing with the short stick? In my limited memory i can't remember anyone running that hot. Making 45 footers look routine.
Personally i love the way jason day plays the game. So aggressive with such a high trajectory is the way i love song the game being played. When he rips that 2 iron is a thing of beauty!

diomed

Rory is best on a long, open, soft course, windless conditions, and flat greens.
Jordan would be the pick if they played the same events every week. He isn't as in and out as Rory. He doesn't just withstand pressure, he applies it.

Speak Now

mike12 wrote: »

If Rory didn't miss so much of last season I reckon we wouldn't be having this discussion he was in super form at the time and I think he would have won one if not both of the majors he missed.
Should be a great battle in the next few years.

McIlroy only missed one major and he played the two Jordan won so I think this discussion would be happening anyway.

redzerdrog

Both teeing it up in dubai this week. Hopefully we see them both in contention down the home straight on sunday

Mantis Toboggan

redzerdrog wrote: »

Both teeing it up in dubai this week. Hopefully we see them both in contention down the home straight on sunday

Should be good viewing, McIlroy is the king of Dubai and with decent eyesight now he should come out on top.

Having said that he may be rusty, hasn't played in two months, if Speith can get the better of him in dubai then it looks fairly ominous for the rest of the season.