While Tiger Woods completely changed the game of golf when he came along in the 1990s, it was absolutely crucial to his success that he had rivals to push him while he was at his peak.
Of course, Tiger Woods produced performances which made the rest of the field look silly. He won the US Open and The Open Championship in 2000 by a combined 23 shots.
But Woods’ greatness was enhanced from playing alongside the likes of Ernie Els and Vijay Singh. However, there was one rival who appeared to clash with Woods more than anyone else – Phil Mickelson.
While fans rarely got the dream showdown between Woods and Mickelson on the final day of a major, their dynamic left spectators fascinated. And it seems that both men hugely benefitted from the other being around.
Golf may have a new rivalry emerging which can compete with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson
Those kind of rivalries do not happen too often. But perhaps the sport now has two players ready to step into those roles.
Just 12 months ago, there was little hint of a rivalry between Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau – apart from the fact that McIlroy remained on the PGA Tour while DeChambeau had become the poster boy for LIV Golf.
But following the US Open last year and The Masters last month, something could be brewing.
DeChambeau did not defend McIlroy when his actions at Augusta were bizarrely criticised by a reporter ahead of LIV Golf Korea this past week. Meanwhile, DeChambeau came in for a lot of criticism after noting that McIlroy did not speak to him during the final round at The Masters.
And speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Rex Hoggard suggested that there is real potential for any friction between the two to develop into something special.
“I would push back a little bit on anyone who seems to think that Rory had lost his popularity, [they] didn’t walk around and follow him last week in New Orleans for five days because those crowds loved everything about Rory McIlroy. It is interesting now when those two get together like we very rarely see. But when they do, it almost feels as if the crowd are split,” he said.
“It feels Tiger-Phil-esque because I always felt like Tiger was at his best when Phil was at his best. Because when you had someone pushing him, in this particular case Phil, there were a lot of Tiger fans, and I would say Tiger probably had more fans, but it was the most polarising rivalry I’ve ever seen in the history of covering sports, not just golf. There was no-one that was in between, you wouldn’t be like, ‘yeah I like Tiger, but I’m a Phil guy too’. No, you had to be one or the other, and I can see this playing out that way.”
The interesting comment Bryson DeChambeau made after his win in which he overlooked Rory McIlroy
There appears to be a lot of respect between McIlroy and DeChambeau. McIlroy changed his game to try and keep up with DeChambeau when the latter started to transform his body in late 2019.
But the American is one of those characters who easily divides opinion. The five-time major champion is no angel either, with McIlroy leaving Pinehurst before congratulating DeChambeau at the US Open.
It was interesting that DeChambeau made no mention of McIlroy when looking ahead to the PGA Championship after his win this past week. The form of Scottie Scheffler, Joaquin Niemann and Jon Rahm were, understandably, mentioned by the Crushers captain.
Perhaps we are reading too much into those comments. Perhaps DeChambeau was trying to make the point that it does not simply come down to himself and McIlroy.
But it would be interesting to know whether there was anything behind him not praising McIlroy’s form when the Northern Irishman has been the best player on the planet in 2025.
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