Rory McIlroy has acknowledged today in Canada, where he is preparing to compete this week in the RBC Canadian Open, that the victory in Augusta and achieving the Career Grand Slam left him somewhat empty or lacking motivation, especially in the short term. However, it seems he arrives at this event with a reset done and reasonably ready for a new take-off.
The question to the Northern Irishman in the press conference delved into specific details: “What goals are you pursuing now? Are you chasing Tiger? New records? Maybe just enjoying the day-to-day? How would you describe what you are pursuing?”
And the answer has been truly revealing: “I don’t know if I’m chasing anything… What I would say is that in the weeks I’ve had off, spending three or four hours practising on the range has felt tougher than before. You achieve that life goal you’ve worked so hard for, and when it happens, sometimes it’s hard to find the motivation to get back on the horse. I think these last two weeks have served as a reset, to understand where I am mentally, what I want to do, where I want to play. Yes, I’ve readjusted some goals. I’ve had a pretty good first half of the season, and now I want to have an equally good second half,” he replied.
This week, in Canada, Rory will reach 429 tournaments played in his career counting towards the world ranking. And here’s the kicker: that’s the number Tiger Woods has played to date. Exactly 429 tournaments counting towards the world ranking. Rory has just redefined his goals, as he has confessed, although it seems his response was more about the short term, what lies ahead in this year 2025. It’s possible he also has a number of Majors in mind, but he has certainly never made it public. He did mention relatively recently that he wanted to fight to be recognised as the best European player in history…
The comparison with Tiger, in any case, should not be part of any roadmap of goals. Neither for Rory, nor probably for any active player, not even Scottie Scheffler. It would be the most odious comparison in golf history. Odious, of course, for anyone who dared to make it…
Will someone come along who surpasses Woods? Sooner or later, it might happen, although it’s possible the person hasn’t even been born yet. Could Scheffler even hold his own against the Cypress native? He’s already doing so in some areas, but the overall numbers are still overwhelmingly in Woods’ favour. It remains to be seen, it’s true, how far the Texan can go and, above all, for how long.
Let’s go with some hard facts, now that Rory is going to match Tiger in the number of tournaments played counting towards the world ranking.
– First things first. Out of the 429 tournaments played, Tiger won 93. Rory has so far achieved 39 victories in 428 appearances counting towards the world ranking.
– Let’s go with some extraterrestrial percentages. Tiger has a total of 156 top 3 finishes in 429 tournaments. Rory could reach his 100th this week in the same number of appearances, as he currently has 99 top 3 finishes. Tiger, therefore, finished in the top three in an astonishing 36.36 percent of the occasions, while Rory’s percentage is currently 23.13, which is not bad at all. Jon Rahm, for example, has finished in the top three in 44 of his 185 tournaments counting towards the world ranking, which gives us a percentage very similar to Rory’s, although slightly better: 23.78 percent. However, with less than half the tournaments played. And Scheffler already has 46 top 3 finishes in 167 appearances, which gives us a fabulous percentage of 27.54. Still, below Tiger’s…
– Tiger achieved an impressive 237 top ten finishes in 429 tournaments, which gives us a percentage of 55.24 percent. Interestingly, Rory is currently right at fifty percent: he has achieved 214 top ten finishes in 428 tournaments. Incredible. In this area, Rahm is also pushing hard: 99 top ten finishes in 185 tournaments for a percentage of 53.51 percent. And Scheffler has achieved 80 top ten finishes in 167 tournaments, a 47.90 percent.
– We’ve brought up the comparison just now that Rory is going to match Tiger’s 429 tournaments counting towards the world ranking this week. Then, other names have appeared, those of Rahm and Scheffler. And these four names (Tiger, McIlroy, Rahm, and Scheffler) are in these aspects far above the rest. No doubt about it. Just in case, here are some illustrious examples:
– Dustin Johnson, one of the most solid World Number Ones in history, has achieved 54 top 3 finishes in 344 tournaments, for a percentage of 15.69. And 126 top ten finishes (36.65 percent).
– Brooks Koepka has achieved 36 top 3 finishes in 243 tournaments (14.81 percent). And 75 top ten finishes in 243 tournaments (30.86 percent).
– Justin Thomas has achieved 43 top 3 finishes in 287 tournaments (14.98 percent). And 104 top ten finishes in 287 tournaments (36.23 percent).
– Bryson DeChambeau has achieved 23 top 3 finishes in 173 tournaments (13.29 percent). And 48 top ten finishes in 173 tournaments (27.74 percent).
