Rory McIlroy’s win at The Masters last weekend will go down in history as he finally landed the green jacket and now, a point has been made about Tiger Woods’ career compared to McIlroy’s.
McIlroy needed a playoff to get it done against Justin Rose, despite leading by two at the start of the round and then holding a four shot lead with a third of his holes to play.
In the end, some nervy chipping and putting allowed Rose to reel McIlroy in and if it wasn’t for his stunning wedge shot on the playoff hole, we might be having a different conversation on McIlroy right now.
As we know, McIlroy choked back in 2011 before the 2024 US Open last year saw Bryson DeChambeau edge him out.
Nevertheless, he got the job done, and golf analyst Brandel Chamblee has made a point about Tiger Woods to defend McIlroy’s near miss.
Rory McIlroy defended as point made about Tiger Woods leading in majors
Having had a front row seat in the press box to see McIlroy get over the line, Brandel Chamblee spoke on his new podcast the Favourite Chamblee about how the Northern Irishman’s victory actually deserves more credit than it got.
“So we’re all so addicted to what Tiger Woods did. And what Tiger Woods did was what Secretariat did. Just won by wide margins and made it look simple, Chamblee explained.
“But the fact of the matter is every single golfer in history has suffered from painful losses. Every golfer except Tiger Woods. Every single one of them. Including Jack, including Watson.
“People forget Bobby Jones lost three US. Open’s in playoffs. Three US Opens. He lost three of them in playoffs. Everybody always likes Ben Hogan was this amazing guy. Ben Hogan lost two Masters in playoffs. And then I believe in the 1952 Masters, he had the 54 hole lead and shot 79.
“Today, we would have been talking about him as a choker. We did a live from for the Masters in 52. We just said, Ben Hogan is a choker. In the whole world, we’d written him off as he can’t handle the heat. He’s lost his edge since the car crash. I know he won the 50 Open, he won the 51 Masters, but he turned into a choker.
“That’s what the world would have said. And then he won the three majors in 53. But everybody has suffered painful losses.”
Linking the discussion on Hogan to McIlroy, Chamblee pointed out how his ability to put the PGA Tour on his back made his win all the more impressive.
“But the fact that Rory has suffered from so many so recently, and so obviously, with so much talent that, and I think when you factor all that in over 11 years, and you put it on his shoulders, plus he put the PGA Tour on his shoulders. Rory took the Tour and put them on his shoulders and said, I got you, I’m going to carry it. My popularity, my thoughtfulness, my insight, my intellect, I will fight for the Tour.
“And he did, I think he did. I think he did a marvellous job doing that. So it was a live versus the PGA Tour.”
Chamblee revealed the whole press box cheered for McIlroy when he did win,
Tiger Woods’ biggest winning margins
The point made about Tiger here by Chamblee is one held by many in the golf world. There was a period where if Woods got in front, he simply wasn’t being caught.
Indeed, that is shown in how Woods has had some big winning margins over the years, and in majors too.
At the 2000 US Open, Woods managed to finish a record breaking 15 shots clear of Ernie Els and Miguel Angle Jimenez, while at the 1997, he finished 12 clear of the field to announce himself to the world.
He’s won by 11 strokes twice, eight strokes six times, and seven strokes on two occasions.
With golf having so much talent right now, the idea of seeing a prime Tiger Woods among some of the modern day greats is a wonderful thought.
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