“Congratulations to Rory McIlroy who just earned a prize that eluded Tiger Woods for his entire career: A true rival” ~ Shane Ryan
These were spoken by Shane Ryan that really got me thinking about sports rivalries late Sunday night as I still sat numb, still nauseated after having watched Dustin Johnson three-putt on the 18th hole and lose the U.S Open to 21-year-old Jordan Spieth.
Case in point, the Red Sox are far from great, but a casual sports fan will tune in to a Yankees-Sox game because it’s a great draw no matter how good they are. You can’t do Roger Federer without Rafael Nadal, and for the longest time, you couldn’t talk about Tiger Woods without at least mentioning Phil Mickelson. In 2015—and hopefully for a long time to come—we just might be on the verge of seeing the blossoming of a new rivalry on the course.
Before addressing McIlroy-Spieth, it’s important to examine the last great golf rivalry: Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. How did it come to be? Were they even playing at the same level? What fuelled the rivalry?
Of Tiger Woods’ 14 major championship victories, the runner-up has only been the same twice; it was Ernie Els in the 2000 U.S and British Opens and Chris DiMarco in the 2005 Masters and 2006 British Open. Phil Mickelson was only the runner up to Tiger in one major that Tiger won—the 2002 U.S Open.
Mickelson already had nine PGA Tour wins when Woods arrived on the tour in 1996. Woods quickly cemented himself, however, as the game’s biggest star when he won the 1997 Masters by a record 12 shots. Mickelson had yet to win a major, and he would carry the “best player without a major” label for several more years. At the 2001 Masters, Mickelson finished third as Woods won his second green jacket and fourth consecutive major. In 2002, Woods defended his title at Augusta, and Mickelson finished third again.
In 2003, the focus of their rivalry turned to equipment. Mickelson said in a Golf Magazine interview that Woods was playing with “inferior equipment.” “In my mind, Tiger and I don’t have issues between us,” Mickelson said. “Well, maybe one. He hates that I can fly it past him now. He has a faster swing speed than I do, but he has inferior equipment. Tiger is the only player who is good enough to overcome the equipment he’s stuck with.”
At the 2004 Masters, Mickelson finally won his first major. He drained a downhill 18-footer on the 72nd hole to beat Ernie Els by a stroke. Woods tied for 22nd. While he didn’t win another major in 2004, Mickelson had a remarkable run of close calls. He finished second at the U.S. Open, third at the British and tied for 6th at the PGA, beating Woods in all three events. At the 2004 Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills, U.S. captain Hal Sutton paired Woods and Mickelson for the first time. The decision backfired as the duo lost to Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington, and to Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood. Woods and Mickelson have not teamed up since.
Despite their failed pairing in the Ryder Cup, Woods and Mickelson have come together during team events — at the Ping-Pong table. Stories of the two playing intense matches are common at Ryder Cups and President’s Cups, and Mickelson bought Woods’ daughter, Sam, a mini Ping-Pong table when she was born.
Woods and Mickelson dominated the majors in 2005. Woods won the Masters and the British Open, while Mickelson beat Woods by two strokes at the PGA Championship. In 2005 at Doral, Woods edged Mickelson by a stroke in one of the most memorable Tiger-Phil showdowns. Mickelson won his second consecutive major, and second green jacket, at the 2006 Masters. Woods tied for third, three strokes back. Playing in his first tournament since the death of his father, Woods missed the cut at the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. Mickelson was on the verge of winning the tournament, which would have been his first U.S. Open and third consecutive major, but he made double bogey on No. 18 to lose by one stroke to Geoff Ogilvy. Tiger Woods remained No. 1 in the world.
Shortly after finishing tied for 24th at the 2007 Masters, Mickelson left his coach Rick Smith to work with Butch Harmon, who coached Woods for 10 years. The change seemed to pay off right away when Mickelson won his first Players Championship in 2007. In the first season of the FedEx Cup playoffs, Mickelson and Woods battled again at the 2007 Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston. Mickelson won by two strokes, but Woods would go on to win the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup. The 2008 U.S. Open was held at Torrey Pines, where Mickelson and Woods had both won tournaments. The hype was intensified when they were paired together for the first two rounds. Mickelson faded quickly, shooting 71-75. Woods, playing with a torn ligament in his left knee and a stress fracture in his left leg, gutted out one of the most impressive wins in major championship history. He made a birdie on the 72nd hole to tie Rocco Mediate, then won a 19-hole Monday playoff.
At the 2009 Masters, Woods and Mickelson were paired together in the final round. They electrified the gallery on the front nine, with Mickelson making six birdies and Woods draining an eagle on No. 8 to stay in the hunt. Their rounds fizzled on the back nine, but Mickelson beat Woods, 67-68. Neither Woods nor Mickelson won a major in 2009, but Mickelson won his first World Golf Championship event at Doral. He then defeated Woods by three strokes at the Tour Championship, but Woods won his second FedEx Cup trophy thanks to a six-win season. At the 2010 Masters, Woods received all the early attention as he returned to competition after months of scandal. By Sunday, however, Mickelson was the center of attention as he walked away with the green jacket and Woods tied for fourth.
There haven’t been any major showdowns since that 2010 Masters, but together Tiger & Phil were the faces of golf for 15 years, the rivalry electrified casual viewers and they were two of the most recognizable faces and names in professional sports. The PGA is hoping for a similar kind of rivalry between Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth to re-ignite the casual golf viewer.
There’s just one problem about this rivalry: it isn’t a rivalry—yet.
Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy have never been paired together on the weekend of a tournament, have had nothing but positive things to say about each other, and neither of them has ever proclaimed it was even close to a rivalry. In fact, they choose to downplay the prospect of a rivalry at every turn. Nonetheless, these two golfers are on a direct collision course for each other.
McIlroy is 26 years old and the top ranked golfer in the world, while Spieth is is 21 and is the second ranked golfer in the world. As ESPN’s Jason Sobel wrote, “Blending these two burgeoning careers into a rivalry sounds like the recipe to some magic elixir for an industry in desperate need of one: Take two parts elite golfer. Shake contents. Mix. Add bitters. Voila. We’ve created a rivalry.” If only it were that easy—and FYI: I would serve a Rory-Spieth cocktail over ice.
To be fair, the media industry has been trying to force Rory McIlroy rivalries for years beginning with Tiger, Rickie Fowler and now, Jordan Spieth.
There are some similarities in that Mickelson was on tour before Tiger, and Rory was on tour before Spieth. Mickelson was fairly calm and cool, while Tiger was loud, outlandish and fiery. McIlroy is pretty calm compared to Spieth, who has been known to have a temper on the course.
But getting back to the Spieth-Rory Cocktail that Sobel wrote about, it’s missing one huge ingredient: they really haven’t played together at all. They have played a total of eight rounds of golf together on the course, all of which have been Thursdays and Fridays. McIlroy owns a slim 3-2-1 head-to-head advantage in these eight rounds with a scoring average of 69.83 to Spieth’s 72.33. All of which means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things for a pair of elite-level players who base their performances on victories and major championship results, not against each other.
“I’m pretty much paying attention to myself out there when I’m just sort of trying to get myself around the golf course,” McIlroy said. “Regardless of who I play with, that doesn’t really change. I’ll notice it because there’s going to be a bit more buzz around the group and a bit more excitement. But to me, I’m out there and I’m focusing on my own game and trying to do the best that I can.”
They’ll hear the comparisons this week. They’ll endure the pushing of a narrative that hasn’t yet blossomed, observers trying to fast-forward the gradual time requirement necessary to nourish a rivalry. But the promise is there; two great, young talents and personalities are ready to meander through the rest of 2015 with the world’s number one pitted against the man chasing the ‘Spieth-Slam’.
Let’s hope golf’s newest rivalry develops someday, maybe even starting with all the media attention that this is about to get. But for now, golf’s newest rivalry really isn’t a rivalry at all.
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