The PGA season is about to come to an end and the people trying to get attention one last time are out with their comments. The player of the year in golf based on winning 4 events inclduing a major is Rory Mcilroy. No one disputes his achievements this year. Yes he had a stretch earlier this year when he missed several cuts and other than the PGA was not impressive at the Masters, U.S. Open or even the British. Yes if Tiger wins this event starting tomorrow he will win the Fedex Cup and tie Mcilroy for most wins and may steal the award from Mcilroy, but lets face it that is a big obstacle to overcome based on how well Mcilroy has been playing. Greg Norman made a comment recently where he feels that Tiger Woods is intimidated by Mcilroy because he is friendly with him and is realizing that the torch is basically being passed down to Mcilroy. I find his statements blog worthy only because of how silly they are. Tiger has several friends on the tour. People for years have been tryingand Phil, Ernie, and Lee Westwood out to be enemies. Tiger goes fishing every year with Darren Clarke and Mark O'meara. He gave Phil a ping pong table for a wedding gift saying that he looks forward to many matches on the table with Phil. He just can't be a normal guy ever can he? He has to be great every second of every day and He has to automatically have perfected his swing changes in haste so he can make you, me, and everyone else care about golf.
He has outplayed McIlroy in 3 of the 4 majors this year. When they have been paired together, Woods has shot a better score more than Rory has. Rory is smart. Out play Tiger when he is not paired with Tiger and then force Tiger to catch him. Tiger has no reason to be intimidated by McIlroy. Remember when Vijay had that magical year a few years back when he beat Tiger head to head jsut about every week and everyone said that Vijay was about to take over golf? What happened the very next year? Who won the most that year? Majors that year? Who was the player of the year that year? Who won the Fedex Cup that year as well? It wasn't me. It wasn't Vijay. I don't think it was Phil either. I know who it was and so does Greg Norman. It was Woods. In my opinion the fact that Woods has reascended to the top 2 in the world in one year is amazing. He was awful to watch last year. He was either always hurt or playing "in the woods" in every tournament. He could hit a fairway if the fairway was a thousand feet wide. He contended a few times but could not finish what he started. He was fixing his life, swing, and mind and he couldn't beat club pro's. This year he has found some success, but the majors have been a weekend calamity. Over the past few weeks, he has played sensational golf for 3 rounds and has been plagued by one bad round. These next two weeks will be indicators as to how far he has come since last year. He had the clinching match victory in the President's cup last September. He was a controversial pick, but he did not let his country down. He will be counted on to lead us in the Ryder Cup next week. He and McIlroy will be paired probably alot over the next two weeks and I am sure they are very familiar with each others games and styles of play.
Lastly, Tiger Woods has 74 wins and 14 major titles. Mcilroy has 2 majors and what 5 PGA wins? At the same age in their careers Tiger has more wins worldwide (13-6). Tiger had 68.19 scoring average at age 23. Mcilroys is 69 and change. Mcilroy has already missed more cuts 5. Woods in 18 years has missed 9 cuts. Woods is approaching the 100 million dollar prize pool for money earned on tour. McIlroy has barely 5 million. Tiger said it best when he said that there are no 255 linebacker going to tackle him in the fairway so he has nothing to be intimidated about. Maybe Greg Norman was intimidated by Nick Faldo when he gagged away a 6 shot lead at the Masters. Remember that Greg? You were the hands down best golfer in the world and the green jacket was yours for the taking. You would have validated as one of the best golfers in the history of the game. You had the record for longest tenure at number 1 until Tiger destroyed that mark by almost 300 weeks!!!! Greg you are still one of my favorites, but lets let this bud into a rivalry. Golf fans are sick of hearing about the next to challenge Tiger and they do it for one year and we never hear from them again. What happened to Vijay? He wins occasionally on the tour. This has been a disappointing year for Phil in terms of wins and losses and missed cuts. Lets see what happens over the next two weeks and into the international season finales.
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