Golf - Switching Era's

So after this summer the sports industry is in full discussion about whether we've reached the Rory era in golf.  We probably have, but it's usually hard to tell when you're firmly in a new era or if it's just a trend.  It's so great for any sport to have one person or team where you know they will win if they play well.  It feels like that now.  And, Rory is so likable and easy to pull for.

But, all the talk has me thinking what is Rory signing up for?  Is he ready to be the face of golf for 10 years?  Is he capable of winning at the level Tiger Woods did?  One of my favorite things is to constantly revisit great players in all sports to remind myself of how great they were.  We live in a culture where we like to move on as soon as something worthy comes along.  So, here is what Rory will find himself compared to in the coming years.

You know I like to identify a player's "prime" for comparison purposes, in all sports.  Some primes are shorter than others, but it's how you really identify the top-end greatness of someone.  Like, Koufax from 1961-1966.  So where do we nail down Tiger's prime?  I think it's clearly 1999-2008.  This stretches from when he emerged from his first big swing change under Harmon and won his 2nd major, until he dropped out of the tour after winning the U.S. Open to have a 2nd knee surgery in '08.  So, a neat 10 years.

In those 10 years, Tiger started 173 official PGA tournaments and was hardly ever "off", making 170 cuts.  He won 58 times, nearly 6 per year, and at a 33% clip.  He finished in the top 3 in 53% of his starts.  His scoring average was 1st on tour 8 of the 10 years, finishing 3rd during a swing change year, and not having enough qualifying tournaments in the other.  In the "World Golf Championship" events, with full fields, he won an absurd 15 of 27 starts in those 10 years.

We also know that Tiger made his career all about majors.  During a six-start stretch from end of 1999 to early 2001, he finished 1-5-1-1-1-1.  Overall for 10 years, he had the same 33% win clip in majors that he did in regular tournaments (13 out of 38).  He also had 5 2nds during that time.

I also found it very interesting to look at the Harmon and Haney years, with the controversial swing change in 2004.  It is considered a big mistake, however if you look at 1999-2003 with Harmon, he won 32 of 96 starts, 33%, and 7 of 20 majors, 35%.  If you exclude 2004 when he went through the swing change, from 2005-2008 when he had the major knee injury, he won 25 of 58 starts, 43%, and 6 of 14 majors, 43%.  In those 14 major starts, he went 1-2-1-4-3-C-1-1-2-2-12-1-2-1.  I'm not sure what the controversy was.  His adjusted scoring avg from 1999-2003 was 68.4 and from 2005-2008 was 68.1.

So, like Kobe and Lebron faced following Jordan, this is what Rory faces following Tiger.  That 10-year stretch was truly amazing.  For me, this won't be about talent as much as it will be about focus.  Can he keep total focus on winning golf for the next several years and make that kind of run?  I'm ready to find out.

S