Mcilroy vs Woods: Has the New Prodigy Come Too Late for a Rivalry?

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Golf’s been waiting for a rivalry this sweet for a long time. This week Rory Mcilroy overtook fellow Brit Luke Donald as the World No.1 after securing the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic with a two shot victory over a resurgent Tiger Woods. The rise, unsurprising to some after Mcilroy’s record breaking US Open Championship win last year, which saw him shoot an all time low 268, 16 under par to become the youngest winner since Bobby Jones in 1923.

The young Northern Irishman now becomes the 2^nd youngest No.1 since Woods himself in 1997, and shows no signs of slowing up since his historic Congressional victory either. With top 5 finishes in 9 of his last 10 tournaments and a 2^nd place at the World Match Play Championship, he is fast establishing himself as the undisputed champion of world golf.

Yet what made the Honda Classic so interesting was the glimpse of something golf has long been waiting in the wings for. Tiger shot a personal low 62 in the final round, his best ever closing day finish and his lowest score over 72 holes since his last PGA Tour win way back in September 2009 at the BMW Championship. Despite Mcilroy remaining composed to shoot at solid 69 to clinch his 3^rd PGA Tour victory, Wood’s late surge proved he still has the imperious talent inside him, we just haven’t seen it consistently enough in the past 3 years.

Woods has been plagued with personal issues and a shoddy knee during Mcilroy’s rise to prominence, and has yet to find anything close to his true form in the past 18 months. But what last Sunday saw was Woods standing up to be counted and heading face on into battle with who could become his fiercest rival, ironically after he is no longer king. During Tiger’s reign of supremacy, few challengers emerged to dethrone him, and he became what Schumacher was to F1, but lacked the dramatic ferocity that Sampras was to Agassi.

Sure golf has thrown up some exceptional talents in the 15 years since Woods first became No.1, but none of them ever signalled a true intent to usurp the mighty Woods. The likes of Vijay Singh, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson have all lit up the game of golf during their time, without ever threatening the face of the modern day Jack Nicklaus.

Harrington (3), Els (3) and Mickelson (4) all held the biggest challenge to Woods’ supremacy in terms of Major wins, but compared to Tiger’s 14, there hasn’t been a genuine rivalry in golf since the days of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer back in the 60s.  Not to say no rivalries have existed, as Phil Mickelson is one of the best golfers of his generation and there has never been much love loss between the pair, but there never existed a plausible chance of Mickelson overtaking Woods in his hay day, yet with Mcilroy there does.

“It would be a sad situation to see the best golfer of a generation slowly wilt away into obscurity without ever truly reconciling for the actions that may well determine him.”

What golf fans will hope across the world is that Mcilroy’s genuine threat of a 10+ major winning career will spark a flame in Tiger’s belly, and inspire him to react like the true champion he is. Whilst there is no contending that Mcilroy is deservedly the best player in world golf at the moment, despite only officially so since last Sunday, the concept of Tiger invigorating his former self to the 14 major winning, longest running No.1 and record number PGA Player of the Year is a site any golf fan salivates at the thought of.

Undoubtedly golf, more specifically British golf has seen a meteoric rise during Woods 2 and half year absence.  We’ve seen an emotional Open Championship victory for Darren Clarke, Ryder Cup triumph for Monty’s Europe, US Opens for Graeme McDowell and Mcilroy, as well as 3 British number 1’s in a row for Westwood, Donald and now the prodigal Northern Irishman.  But for a fan that grew up on Woods, something’s missing without him in the picture. It would be a sad situation to see the best golfer of a generation slowly wilt away into obscurity without ever truly reconciling for the actions that may well determine him.

“It may be naive to believe anything other than the facts; nothing has changed. Mcilroy is still winning tournaments and Woods is still trailing behind.”

For some though, however much promise from Woods, it may be naïve to believe anything other than the facts; nothing has changed. Mcilroy is still winning tournaments, looking set to enjoy the view of No.1 for some time, whilst Woods is still trailing behind. Whether he can achieve the record 283 consecutive weeks of Mr Woods remains to be seen, but the new kid on the block is in imperious form.

Yet maybe even Mcilroy himself is secretly hoping for a rivalry. Only then, when he’s truly beaten a resurgent Woods reverent of the one he grew up idolising, will he prove he’s the best.  Maybe it’s the other way round, with Mcilroy the key for Woods. In the young Northern Irishman he see’s a naturally gifted golfer, compared to himself who has worked tirelessly (albeit effectively) to reconstruct his swing to maintain dominance. But in Tiger we see a fighter, a true champion ready for the challenge. This rivalry may never materialise and Mcilroy may continue to assert himself as the undisputed champion of world golf, it’s something we’ve been yearning for years, something we can’t wait to watch grow.