Rory McIlroy finally won The Masters on Sunday, and Sir Nick Faldo made a majorly bold claim about him after his victory.
Sir Nick Faldo never shies away from a controversial take or two, and he very much lived up to that after Rory McIlroy completed the career Grand Slam by winning The Masters.
The patrons at Augusta National were firmly in the corner of Rory McIlroy during the final round of The Masters.
Surely nobody could begrudge Rory his win – he was more than deserving of it after so many close calls and years of disappointment.
The 35-year-old Northern Irishman is a very special player, and he has undoubtedly cemented his place in the history books now, following his dramatic win at the 89th edition of The Masters.
The career that Rory has had so far is right up there with the very best of all-time.
However, when McIlroy was young, there were two even better players than him, according to Faldo at least.
Sir Nick Faldo names the two amateurs who were even better than Rory McIlroy as youngsters
Faldo has made an incredibly bold claim about about Rory’s talents.
Sure, he was an exceptionally talented young player, but Faldo reckons there were a couple of players who ere even more outstanding.
When speaking on Sky Sports in the UK, Sir Nick suggested that Rory McIlroy wasn’t even the best young player around when he was part of his Faldo Junior Series.
“I’m delighted for him. I’ve known Rory for 20 years now, I took him to California when he was a young lad, he wasn’t even the best amateur at the time. James Heath and Oli Fisher were better than him.
“So I have known him for a long time. I’ve only played a couple of rounds with him amazingly. But I’ve been watching his career and really felt it. That’s why I really feel it now for him. As I jokingly said, the wringer he put us through today, I’ll give him a smack but I’ll give him a big hug as well.“
As good as Oli Fisher and James Heath undoubtedly were, I feel like this is nothing more than some old fashioned hyperbole from Sir Nick!
What happened to Oli Fisher and James Heath
Oli Fisher shot the first ever 59 on the DP World Tour back in 2018 at the Portugal Masters, and he won the 2011 Czech Masters.
Meanwhile, James Heath, now 42, has won twice on the Challenge Tour and once on the PGA Euro Pro Tour.
Fisher has definitely had the more interesting career out of the two.
He played in the very first LIV event at Centurion in 2022, and bizarrely, that tournament ended up being the only LIV event he ever played as well!
Oli Fisher was one of nine LIV players to be axed after just one event, and he does more television work now than anything else.
Fisher and Heath must both be looking at Rory McIlroy now after his win at The Masters with huge admiration, and a slight bit of envy as well!
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