In every sport, rivalries are what fuel the observers’ interest. Ratings soar when the rival teams, or individuals, face each other; especially in any marquee event.
The sport of golf is no stranger to rivalries.
Golf is for the most part an individual sport, with the exception of the team competitions like for example the Ryder Cup, President’s Cup and Solheim Cup. Thus, the individual part of the competition dominates the schedules and fans like to see top players face off on Sunday for the tournament title.
Sort of a mano-a-mano through the 18 holes, going back and forth exchanging leads. And this is expected to happen on every tournament they play.
That is what is expected from the world’s top two golfers, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Woods is the undisputed king of the current generation of golfers, and McIlroy, the heir apparent.
We’ve seen this happen before.
Slammin’ Sam Snead had the beautiful swing, durability and most tour wins in history; yet Ben Hogan had the glory. Arnold Palmer and Jack Nickalus had a long rivalry that evolved into a feud until the 1990s; now there's a genuine friendship between them.
The fans crave those kinds of feuds/rivalries. Do we get the same thing from Woods and McIlroy?
If there is ever a time for the rivalry to jump into high gear, is at an event like the 77th edition of The Masters. Both players are coming into the tournament riding momentums that can lead them to low numbers this upcoming weekend.
The PGA and TV broadcasters want to see ratings soaring through the sky at an all-time high; they want to broadcast a final pairing between Woods and McIlroy. They just know more audience means it would not only attract more observers to the game, but also more sponsors and with it money.
Nike wants more posters, commercials, flyers, podcasts; anything they can do to promote their biggest drawing stars. They just happen to sponsor the world's best two golfers, who date two of the world’s most recognizable female athletes—a marketing dream.
But are we getting really a rivalry or just a budding friendship between golf’s supernovas. I remember at the beginning of the year, that Woods posted the following on a blog on his website and was covered on many media sites:
“Whether we develop a rivalry remains to be seen. Let’s just play it out and see where it takes us. We’ll look at the results the next 5-10 years and see if it becomes a rivalry or not. We’ll have to win big events and play each other down the stretch. That hasn’t happened yet. We’ve only played each other at the Honda down the stretch. We need a lot more of those type of battles, but in bigger events.”
A rivalry between them is what most fans would want. It gives everyone something more to talk about as they take sides and cheer for their preferred player.
But so far, the rivalry has been more of a theory than a confirmed fact. If there is ever to be a rivalry, it needs a boost, and The Masters this week just enhance this opportunity. It’s the first major of the year and all eyes will be on them regardless.
Woods is still chasing Jack Nicklaus' career major wins record of 18. Woods has been stuck on 14 majors since June 2008, although he seems to be playing his best again and has won three times this year. All throughout his career he has mentioned how much he cares about winning majors.
McIlroy has won two majors and recently said his focus are the majors: "That's a big goal for me - to try to win more major championships. I feel like I'm at a stage now where, sure I want to win other tournaments, but the majors are the focus.”
Those are excellent news; we have them playing The Masters, the year's first major this weekend. Both players seem to be streaking coming in and we can expect them to be part of the mix atop the leaderboard.
Both players seem to be streaking going into The Masters and we can expect them to be part of the mix atop the leaderboard. As a fan of golf, we want the best players going at it, and showing their best arsenal down the stretch on Sunday.
There is a big chance we’ll get to see that on Sunday at Augusta.