It looked as though he’d blown it. The six-shot lead that he’d built through 36 holes was suddenly gone, and he was the chaser.
Come Sunday evening, though, thankfully, there were no more talks of a choke.
Looking at the statistics, it’s hard to come to any other conclusion: he’s Europe’s best player of all time. What do you think? Let us know in the comments box below.
In winning his sixth Major Championship on Sunday, a year after claiming the title for the first time to complete the career Grand Slam, he joined Nick Faldo on the same number.
However, even if he had not successfully defended his title at Augusta, a feat Faldo accomplished in 1989/90, it would have been hard to make a case that he wasn’t already the best.
Like McIlroy, Faldo also ruled at the top of the world rankings in his pomp and accumulated a staggering number of trophies, but the Englishman never won the US Open or PGA Championship. Nor did the great Seve Ballesteros.
It’s always hard to compare players of different eras. The game was quite different half a century ago, when Faldo and Seve plied their trade mostly on the European Tour.
However, McIlroy’s numbers dwarf all other names in the conversation, even if the great Spaniard does hold the record for most European Tour (now DP World Tour) wins with 50, a number that is unlikely to ever be beaten.
All three players are golfing Gods, of that there’s no doubt, but this is how their numbers compare.
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
McIlroy |
Faldo |
Seve |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Majors |
6 |
6 |
5 |
|
Masters |
2 |
3 |
2 |
|
PGA Championship |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
US Open |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
The Open |
1 |
3 |
3 |
|
Major Top 10s |
34 |
26 |
20 |
|
DP World Tour wins |
21 |
30 |
50 |
|
PGA Tour wins |
30 |
9 |
9 |
|
Ryder Cup appearances |
8 |
11 |
8 |
|
Ryder Cup wins |
6 |
5 |
3 |
|
Ryder Cup points |
21.5 |
25 |
22.5 |
|
DPWT OOM |
7 |
2 |
6 |
|
Weeks No.1 |
122 |
97 |
61 |
Is Rory McIlroy Europe’s best Ryder Cup player ever? Is he Europe’s best-ever player at the Masters? How about The Open? Faldo and Seve have three Claret Jugs to their name, to McIlroy’s one.
These are all separate debates to be had.
As for the greatest overall player, surely…
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