I've seen the future and the Tiger Rors

Quick pop test for the class. How many majors has Seve Ballesteros won? How about Nick Faldo? And what about the king himself Arnold Palmer? The answers of course are 5, 6 and 7. Now I presume all the well educated sports fans who read the Kingbet blog got that right. So now consider how many majors you think Rory McIlroy will win. I'd heard 20 bandied about and that if he didn't equal Tiger Woods he would be a failure. Hang on a minute if he didn't double the amount of majors Arnold Palmer won he'd be a failure? When did the bar get so high and who set it?

Rory McIlroy is the most talented player on the circuit right now. Of that there is little doubt but does that mean he'll win every single event he plays? When McIlroy plays to his potential he's virtually playing a different sport. However this is only his third tournament win. Jason Day is only 23. What about Matteo Manassero, Rickie Fowler or Ryo Ishikawa? They can all play too and are as young. So let us not be so hasty as to rule out every other golfer.

In the midst of success we all get excited but let's just take a step back. One of the US pundits put it perfectly when he said we've become "Tigerfied". We expect all our golfers to be the next Tiger. Rory McIlroy is not the next Tiger, just as Sebestian Vettel is not the next Michael Schumacher. Rory McIlroy is the next Rory McIlroy. Any talented golfer can win one major, step forward Ben Curtis and Graham McDowell. The very elite among them can win multiple times see one P. Harrington. To win 7 or 8 is elite in the extreme. To win 18 simply astonishing. Now I'm not saying I don't want Rory to win 18 times. I hope he does but I don't think he will and I don't think we can class him a failure just because he doesn't catch the mighty Tiger.