Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler: Batch mates who remain miles apart
Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler started their career from the Walker Cup in 2007, however, the former appears to have left the latter far behind.
Both the players are the same age and have been competing since the start of their professional career. Now in 2012, McIlroy has left Fowler far behind, by winning several tournaments.
McIlroy's achievements are countless. If we compare both the players' profile, it is easy to declare McIlroy as the best player -- far better than his longtime rival.
McIlroy started his professional career in 2007. He was unable to record his first win for the first two years. Then, the 23-year-old Northern Irish professional amazed all the spectators, his fans and other players after finishing the 2009 US Open on the
10th position.
In the same year, he won his first European Tour title, at the Dubai Desert Classic and started the professional winning career impressively.
Later in May 2010, he won the title of the Quail Hollow Championship by a four-stroke margin. This was his first win at the PGA Tour.
The rising star moved further and recorded his first major tournament at the US Open in 2011. Then in December, in the same year, he won another title of the UBS Hong Kong Open in an impressive style. From January to December 2011, he was amazing on every
golf course.
McIlroy finished second on the European Tours’ Race to Dubai list and increased numbers of his fans in 2011. He also recorded top-10 finishes in most of the tournaments.
Now, he is ranked first in the world golf rankings, as he defeated Luke Donald, becoming the most successful young golfer in the international circuit.
More amazingly, he also won the title of The Honda Classic and finished World Golf Championships - Cadillac Championship on the third and Accenture Match Play Championship on the second position.
Fowler is far behind him. It can be proved now, by looking at his achievements. He turned professional in 2009, just two years later than McIlroy.
He has faced tough challenges since turning professional and won only at two tours, the PGA Tour and OneAsia Tour.
The 23-year-old American golfer won his first title in 2011, at the Kolon Korea Open that is the OneAsia Tour event. He won the event by six strokes there and defeated McIlroy, who was the runner-up.
This was his first victory over McIlroy. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time and achieved the honour in Korea.
Later, he finished many tournaments among the top-25 players and recorded his second win at the PGA Tour staged Wells Fargo Championship in 2012.
He again defeated McIlroy in a playoff mode and D. A. Points as well. Winning only two professional events, by defeating his biggest rival, is impressive and a source of motivation for Fowler.
"We've always had a great camaraderie, been good buddies," said Fowler. "I definitely respect him as a player, and I feel like he respects me as well. Or at least I hope so”.
"But I've had a lot of fun playing against him. We first played against each other at the Walker Cup in '07 and I look forward to playing against him and hopefully having plenty more tournaments like this where we're battling back and forth and there's going
to be times where he's going to come out on top and times where I come out on top. I look forward to possibly doing that for a long time".
McIlroy is on a potential lead over Fowler. They both are in direct competition and seeking to outshine each other.
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