MASTERS SPECIAL
Showdown with Texan gives fans a snapshot into future of the sport
RORY McILROY playing alongside Jordan Spieth in the third round of the Masters last night was not just the final group pairing for which everyone hoped. It was surely a snapshot of the future of golf at the majors for the next five years.
What a wonderfully exciting time it promises to be, as the man with all the flair takes on the man who holes all the putts. The artist versus the pragmatist.
Who is your money on to win most majors? McIlroy, 26, might have four to his name to 22-year-old Spieth’s two, but the latter will play in another 16 before he reaches the Northern Irishman’s current age.
Since the 2013 US Open when Spieth began playing in them it has been almost neck and neck. Spieth has played in 12 to Rory’s 11, with two wins each. Spieth has five top10s to McIlroy’s six. Spieth’s stroke average is 70.7, to McIlroy’s 70.4.
At the weekend in the majors since the beginning of 2014, and prior to yesterday’s round, Spieth has averaged 69.64 to McIlroy’s 69.14. Talk about splitting hairs. From the moment Spieth followed up McIlroy’s two major victories at The Open and the US PGA during the second half of 2014 with two of his own, it has felt like their destiny to meet with something important on the line.
Here the stakes could not be much higher, with Spieth seeking to become the first golfer aged 22 or younger in more than 90 years to defend a major successfully.
McIlroy, of course, needs a green jacket to follow in the footsteps of Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods to become just the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam.
Most rivals in golf have not got on when at the height of their powers.
Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player have become bosom buddies in their dotage but they were not in their prime.
Similarly, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods could barely say a nice word about one another when they were winning their majors, but they have become civil with the passing of time.
At the recent WGC-Match Play Championship in Texas, McIlroy saw Spieth having breakfast before their respective matches in the last 16 and wandered over to join him. That would certainly not have happened with most past rivalries, so the following week in Houston I asked Spieth to characterise their friendship.
One of the nice things about both men is their refreshing honesty and Spieth did not attempt to pretend they were close.
He seemed to accept they could not really be pals if they were going to be getting in each other’s way all the time on the big occasions.
‘I wouldn’t say he’s one of my closest friends on tour,’ said Spieth.
‘I have the highest respect for him and the way he handles things but we’re not close. But we’ve hopefully got a lot of years together battling it out. It should be fun.’
The pair might have contrasting games but the thing they share is their obvious desire.
Spieth sees McIlroy as the man he must catch if he wants to go on and progress to become one of the greatest players in the history of the game. Similarly, the Northern Irishman has been driven in the past few months by Spieth stealing his limelight as the best young player in the sport.
‘I’d be lying if I said it didn’t motivate me seeing what Jordan has been doing and also Jason Day,’ he said, on the eve of the Masters.
Yet McIlroy was fully aware he would leave Spieth eating dust if he were to complete th e career Grand Slam. ‘I do think it would put me a good way ahead of the others if I became the only current active player, in the absence of Tiger, to have that on my CV,’ he conceded.
As for the other majors this year, and how the venues stack up for each man, the US Open will be at Oakmont, which is just a relentless slog and does not favour either player. When The Open was staged at Royal Troon in 1997 it
was won by a Texan with a tidy short game and a lethal putting stroke, something that will surely be noted by Spieth when he tries to follow in the footsteps of Justin Leonard.
As for the US PGA, this will always be McIlroy’s favourite major in terms of courses that fit his eye, and Baltusrol in New Jersey will be right up his alley.
The place they might have the most battles, however, is this major, and a course that suits them both.
Here we have Spieth trying to extend his astonishing record of a runner-up and a win in his two starts to date, while McIlroy has adopted the stance that the place owes him one.
‘I’ve come to claim something I should have had a long time ago,’ he said.
As the pair warmed up yesterday it was clear this was going to be another test of endurance in the capricious, gusting wind.
Three hours into the action, not a single player on the course was
under par. The heartening news for McIlroy is that there is little wind forecast for today’s final crucial round, and he should, therefore, be able to exhibit his trademark aggression.
Of course, it was not just a twoman Masters, even if it felt like that at the start of play.
Spieth led McIlroy by a stroke but there were plenty of others who were within touching distance, including a fair number of good wind players. World No1 Day was only five behind. Given the conditions, therefore, there was the chance things would not work out as planned, and the pair would not both survive unscathed to make it through to the final group in the final round.
But it did not alter the script going forward, of two wonderfully exciting young players chasing and inspiring one another to land the biggest prizes in the game.
As Spieth said: ‘This is going to be good.’