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Rory McIlroy 'fires caddie JP Fitzgerald'

cbaker2882 said:
Relevant in terms of what exactly? Jhonny Vegas won this past week...you actually think he's more relevant in golf than Rory McIlroy? Once it hits Wednesday when all of the articles have already switched to the WGC, you actually think anyone wants to talk about him? I mean no offense to him, he seems like a great guy...but the golf world doesn't care.

Being Rory McIlroy in general makes you relevant. 2 top 5's out of 3 majors makes you relevant. More than 50% of your tournaments played being in the top 10 makes you relevant. Being #4 in the world makes you relevant. Other than not having a win yet this year, I literally can't think of a single thing that doesn't make him relevant.
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2 top 5's out of 3 majors makes you relevant - what majors are you looking at? Here's rory's last 4 majors.
2017 Open - T4
US Open - MC
Masters - T7
2016 PGA Championship - MC

Admittedly, I don't do math, but I count one top 5 finish. I also counted two missed cuts.

More than 50% of your tournaments played being in the top 10 makes you relevant.


Rafael Campos has top 10s in 50% of his pga tour starts as well. I don't know who he is, but stats don't lie. Sam Burns is a perfect 100% for top 10 finishes in PGA Tour starts. Also don't know who he is.

Being #4 in the world makes you relevant

I again cite the example of Tiger Woods, who remained #1 in the world despite not playing for a significant period of time. If Alabama sits out in college football this year, they shouldn't be crowned national champions at the end of the season just because of their success in the past.

Being Rory McIlroy in general makes you relevant I'm pretty sure this is the biggest reason many find him to be relevant.

It's ok that we disagree, but Rory isn't relevant to me right now. I'm convinced we are in the era of 'hot streaks' where someone comes out hot, and stays hot for about 6-8 weeks. When it happens, those people have wins, Rory does not.

Let's go over his top 10 finishes, since that's apparently so important.

WGC HSBC - lost by 8 strokes
WGC - Mexico - lost by 4 strokes, and shot even par in the final round, which did nothing to help his cause.
API - lost by 2, I'll admit, definitely in contention until the end here.
Masters - lost by 6.

He then went T37, MC, and T17.
He wraps up then with his T4 at the Open.....where he lost by 7.

Top 10s don't mean anything. Being in contention to win might mean something, which he has a couple where I'd admit he was at least in contention, but several of his top 10s, he wasn't even close.

He's a pretty high investment in fantasy golf for me, especially when he has 1 top 10 finish in his last 6 starts wordwide. Of those 6 starts, he has 3 MC.

~Rock
 
Nate said:
Wow, I thought those 2 would be together for a long long time. Hope Rory isn't in the "grass is always greener" thought here.
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i wonder if he just needs a new "look." a new energy during the round, a different way to read and communicate reads on the greens. who knows? feels like a mistake, but time will tell.
 
McRock said:
2 top 5's out of 3 majors makes you relevant - what majors are you looking at? Here's rory's last 4 majors.
2017 Open - T4
US Open - MC
Masters - T7
2016 PGA Championship - MC

Admittedly, I don't do math, but I count one top 5 finish. I also counted two missed cuts.

More than 50% of your tournaments played being in the top 10 makes you relevant.


Rafael Campos has top 10s in 50% of his pga tour starts as well. I don't know who he is, but stats don't lie. Sam Burns is a perfect 100% for top 10 finishes in PGA Tour starts. Also don't know who he is.

Being #4 in the world makes you relevant

I again cite the example of Tiger Woods, who remained #1 in the world despite not playing for a significant period of time. If Alabama sits out in college football this year, they shouldn't be crowned national champions at the end of the season just because of their success in the past.

Being Rory McIlroy in general makes you relevant I'm pretty sure this is the biggest reason many find him to be relevant.

It's ok that we disagree, but Rory isn't relevant to me right now. I'm convinced we are in the era of 'hot streaks' where someone comes out hot, and stays hot for about 6-8 weeks. When it happens, those people have wins, Rory does not.

Let's go over his top 10 finishes, since that's apparently so important.

WGC HSBC - lost by 8 strokes
WGC - Mexico - lost by 4 strokes, and shot even par in the final round, which did nothing to help his cause.
API - lost by 2, I'll admit, definitely in contention until the end here.
Masters - lost by 6.

He then went T37, MC, and T17.
He wraps up then with his T4 at the Open.....where he lost by 7.

Top 10s don't mean anything. Being in contention to win might mean something, which he has a couple where I'd admit he was at least in contention, but several of his top 10s, he wasn't even close.

He's a pretty high investment in fantasy golf for me, especially when he has 1 top 10 finish in his last 6 starts wordwide. Of those 6 starts, he has 3 MC.

~Rock
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In a "down" year last year, he still managed to win the FedEx.
Spent a good portion of this season dealing with what I think was a rib injury so I'm sure he wasn't playing and practicing as much as seasons past.
Also made an entire bag swap from club manufactures. I'm sure this isn't as big of a deal, but I imagine it would attribute to a bit of sloppy play.
Rory is every bit as relevant as anyone on tour and has to be considered one of the favorites for the PGA given his history at QH
 
McRock said:
but Rory isn't relevant to me right now.
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Correct - top 10's is what I meant. I still don't think that changes much when one was T4 and one was T7.

But this quoted portion of your comment is all that's needed. Whether you apparently disagree or not, he's one of the most relevant golfers on the world stage in terms of popularity and the general people's interest. I don't believe personal feelings really dictate someone's relevancy.
 
Rory is relevant every time he tees it up, whether it's in the USA, Europe, Asia or The Bear's Club.....people take notice
 
NerdyGolfer_81 said:
In a "down" year last year, he still managed to win the FedEx.
Spent a good portion of this season dealing with what I think was a rib injury so I'm sure he wasn't playing and practicing as much as seasons past.
Also made an entire bag swap from club manufactures. I'm sure this isn't as big of a deal, but I imagine it would attribute to a bit of sloppy play.
Rory is every bit as relevant as anyone on tour and has to be considered one of the favorites for the PGA given his history at QH
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I honestly have no idea what the FedEx has to do with anything. The FedEx is designed to allow that to happen. It doesn't change his performance of late. Tiger's injured too, maybe, sort of, who knows, either way, I wouldn't pick him to win anything in the next few weeks either.

cbaker2882 said:
Correct - top 10's is what I meant. I still don't think that changes much when one was T4 and one was T7.

But this quoted portion of your comment is all that's needed. Whether you apparently disagree or not, he's one of the most relevant golfers on the world stage in terms of popularity and the general people's interest. I don't believe personal feelings really dictate someone's relevancy.
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Who said anything about personal feelings? He has one top 10 (and lost by 7) in his last 6 starts (all over the course of 4 months). He's missed cuts in 3 of his last 6 starts. When I think 'relevance' I think of people with a high percentage to win. Rory isn't showing me that right now. Maybe he finishes well at WGC, and my opinion will change. But right now, that's not the case.

When you don't have a high percentage to win, or when you are missing 1/2 your cuts, you are not currently relevant. We aren't talking about legendary status prestige career relevance. We were talking about his performance this season, which has went down the tubes over the past 4 months.

So, taking this all back to the OP, and back on topic, is he relevant right now? No, he is not. Because he is playing sub-average, outside of one tournament. It doesn't surprise me that he fired his caddie, because he has been playing sub-average, 3 missed cuts out of 6 events and all, for a world superstar. Quite frankly, I feel this move will actually make it more difficult for him to get back to form in the near future.

But by all means, let's ignore the past 4 months. Maybe ESPN will start a #RoryWatch and proclaim he is back after a single tournament. It goes completely against my theory that world #1s are those that go on hot streaks over the course of several weeks. Jason Day did it, DJ, Rory, Spieth, etc. Rory isn't showing me any signs of going on such a streak, and firing his caddie isn't going to help until maybe when the FedEx playoffs start.

~Rock
 
Bones is out for the count. Now that he is comentating, I think he has a new profession.
 
McRock said:
Who said anything about personal feelings? He has one top 10 (and lost by 7) in his last 6 starts (all over the course of 4 months). He's missed cuts in 3 of his last 6 starts. When I think 'relevance' I think of people with a high percentage to win. Rory isn't showing me that right now. Maybe he finishes well at WGC, and my opinion will change. But right now, that's not the case.

When you don't have a high percentage to win, or when you are missing 1/2 your cuts, you are not currently relevant. We aren't talking about legendary status prestige career relevance. We were talking about his performance this season, which has went down the tubes over the past 4 months.

So, taking this all back to the OP, and back on topic, is he relevant right now? No, he is not. Because he is playing sub-average, outside of one tournament. It doesn't surprise me that he fired his caddie, because he has been playing sub-average, 3 missed cuts out of 6 events and all, for a world superstar. Quite frankly, I feel this move will actually make it more difficult for him to get back to form in the near future.

But by all means, let's ignore the past 4 months. Maybe ESPN will start a #RoryWatch and proclaim he is back after a single tournament. It goes completely against my theory that world #1s are those that go on hot streaks over the course of several weeks. Jason Day did it, DJ, Rory, Spieth, etc. Rory isn't showing me any signs of going on such a streak, and firing his caddie isn't going to help until maybe when the FedEx playoffs start.

~Rock
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I think we're arguing semantics. I agree with what you're saying actually, but I don't think that has anything to do with how relevant he is. In terms of his game, correct, I don't believe anyone is worried right now who has to go up against him. But in the golf world in general, he is relevant in terms of people wanting to pay attention to what is going on with him.
 
After watching thousands follow and root for him at the Open, I'd say he's very relevant right now.

Looks like his friend Harry Diamond will be on the bag for rest of the year.
 
McRock said:
Outside of the Open, I haven't seen him play well at all this year. At least not up to his standards, and certainly not up to the whoever the hot player of the moment was.
~Rock
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No that's fair. Missed back to back cuts prior to TheOpen and 3 out of 4 MCs? Bad form I agree.

I'm a big believer in him at the PGA. Big confidence boost from his Friday-Sunday at Birkdale. WGC nice change up this week.



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This just proves Rory issues are in his head and he's looking for excuses. First it was his clubs, then his putter, now it's his caddie. Who's there left to blame ? parents, the course. Dude is mental case atm.
 
Harry Diamond . I don't know if that is the coolest name for a caddie I have ever heard, or a name that makes me LMAO every time I hear it.
 
HITitHIGH said:
Harry Diamond . I don't know if that is the coolest name for a caddie I have ever heard, or a name that makes me LMAO every time I hear it.
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sounds like an "actor's" name in a porno mocumentary


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c.a.eleric said:
sounds like an "actor's" name in a porno mocumentary


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Yeah, I wonder if he has ever met Dirk Diggler or Karl Hungus ?
 
MWard said:
That seemed out of the blue and a little surprising
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I remember when I defended his caddie for some remarks made. Surprised he split with him.

Love when players axe their loopers as if it's their fault the player is sucking the hind boobie!!!
 
I put zero into PGA ranking system. I forgot how they figure stuff out but it's not fair way of doing it. Outside of Rory winning the players last years. He's been pretty quiet. Coming up on a year since he last won.
 
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