Now that Rory McILroy has turned into the next Tiger Woods overnight, let's analyze what Rory needs to do to surpass Woods.
Currently, Woods is 35 and McILroy is 22. Woods has 71 career victories with 14 majors. McILroy has three victories with one major. All McILroy has to do now is win 68 total times and 13 majors in the next 13 years in order to equal what Tiger has now. McILroy needs to win an average of 5.2 times per year and one major each year until age 35.
Is it possible? Yes. It it likely? No.
McILroy does have the best overall swing in the game today. He's also proven he is capable of winning major championships in runaway fashion as Woods used to. What hasn't been seen yet is his capability of winning the close ones in which he has to make clutch shots and make every single necessary putt as Woods used to do.
In Tiger Woods' career, he won three straight junior amateurs, three straight U.S. amateurs, and of course the 14 major championships. During his prime, he was the most dominant golfer the sport has ever seen.
Tiger Woods Major Championship Victories:
The Masters 1997: Won by 12 shots over Tom Kite
PGA Championship 1999: Won by 1 shot over Sergio Garcia
U.S. Open 2000: Won by 15 shots over Ernie Els
British Open 2000: Won by 8 shots over Ernie Els
PGA Championship 2000: Won in playoff over Bob May
The Masters 2001: Won by 2 over David Duval
The Masters 2002: Won by 3 over Retief Goosen
U.S. Open 2002: Won by 3 over Phil Mickelson
The Masters 2005: Won in playoff over Chris Dimarco
British Open 2005: Won by 5 over Colin Montgomerie
British Open 2006: Won by 2 over Chris Dimarco
PGA Championship 2006: Won by 5 over Shaun Micheel
PGA Championship 2007: Won by 2 over Woody Austin
U.S. Open 2008: Won in playoff over Rocco Mediate
Of all the supposed "next Tiger Woods", McILroy is definitely the most deserving of the label, but he must have a lot of good fortune in his career and avoid the pitfalls and problems Woods had to surpass him.
By the way, had Tiger made a few more putts at Augusta in April, he would have won the Masters. He isn't dead yet, he's just injured. If he's able to get healthy, he will be back and possibly more motivated than ever now that a potential rival has arrived.
Golf never got to see Tiger Woods vs. Jack Nicklaus. However, there is strong possibility of seeing Tiger Woods vs. Rory McILroy.
