Look Out, Rory! You Could Become the New Sergio

by Ryan Ballengee on Mar 10, 2009 1:53 PM EDT

When Rory McIlroy won at the Dubai Desert Classic and became the 7th youngest player to win on the European Tour, we threw up a caution flag about getting too attached to the young N. Irishman's success. It sounds like people aren't listening.

Shane Bacon of Dogs That Chase Cars and Fanhouse's golf blog explains:

You see, Sergio came into view around the same age. Garcia won his first European Tour event at 20 and became one of the more popular players on tour when he battled Woods at Medinah in the PGA Championship the same year. People raved, in the same way they do about Rory, about Garcia's ability to just hit the ball the way it should be struck.

Here's my point, which most people disagree on. To me, Garcia's career has been rather disappointing. He has won a Players and six other PGA Tour events. He is No. 2 in the world right now. He's a damn fine golfer who will be around for a long time. It's just that the expectations people forced on us from the time he could barely grow facial hair were so outrageous that we expected him to win the Masters by 13 shots his first time out as a pro. He was supposed to. That's how good Sergio was.

Consider that Rory, yes, only 19, has choked away two European Tour events already. Shane does in his analysis. The lad is still learning to win consistently. Sergio never has but his career legend has been supplemented by his Ryder Cup performances.

Here is the bottom line about Rory, seven time PGA Tour (15 times in total) winner Sergio Garcia, and the comparisons to Tiger:

The success might come, but it is worth noting -- we've still only see one Tiger Woods, and that is because there is only one of that guy. Golf is hard. Not everyone can win all the time.

Tiger has won 65 PGA Tour starts, 11 times internationally (7 on the Euro Tour as a part time non-member), and 13 other tournaments that were not directly sanctioned by a Tour. Add it up, that's 89 wins. Rory is at one. Lay off for a bit.

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Comments

now that's just mean !

just kidding – Sergio has grown into the #2 ranked player in the world before the age of 30 – going through patches of mental disconnect with all of his gripping and re-gripping, and more annoying media attention than anyone should have to put up with. not all that bad if you ask me.

I think the better comparison is Padraig Harrington. They are much closer in personality, but McIlroy has a bit more of a head start in the pro golf ranks. They are both more humble and hard working – as opposed to Garcia’s flashy, hot blooded personality.

I’m guessing that Shane Bacon isn’t old enough to remember the annoying string of “this is the next Jack Nicklaus” – a tag that got put on guys like John Cook and Johnny Miller. There are two things that McIlroy and Garcia have in common – they are both very talented, and they both started their pro careers as teenagers. After that, all we can do is wait and watch if we are to be fair to young Rory. Garcia had all the golfing eyes of Spain trying to compare him to Seve Ballesteros – and aside from a common language and a bit of flair, Garcia is no Ballesteros…and Seve was no Sergio.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Mar 10, 2009 9:35 PM EDT reply actions

That’s the only part where I disagree with Shane. I think Sergio has had a very solid career to this point. Certainly, he hasn’t been Tiger-esque, but no one else has been either.

Paddy was a late bloomer, really late bloomer. I’m not sure if I have a proper comparison for Rory yet. Depending on how things pan out, maybe Tom Watson.

by Ryan Ballengee on Mar 11, 2009 9:18 AM EDT reply actions

"late bloomer"

remember – Harrington has a college degree. He postponed his professional golf to go to “Uni”, and he is a multi-sport athlete. Rory is a golfer only. Harrington was playing soccer and hurling…not to mention being an award winning Irish dancer AND a family man. His game was built for links golf and had to re-tool everything to play American courses.

So yes, you could call him a late bloomer, but he had a lot to get out of his system before his golf game kicked in.

Watson graduated from Stanford before hitting the PGA Tour.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Mar 11, 2009 9:55 AM EDT up reply actions