Rory's got more talent in his pinky than I have in my whole body - Snedeker

Simon Lewis at Congressional CC

IT seems you didn't have to even watch Rory McIlory tame the US Open set-up at Congressional Country Club before the weekend to appreciate the magnitude of the young Irishman's achievement.

Anyone with any experience of witnessing the 22-year-old swing a golf club over the past couple of years will have been able to compute the staggering statistics that accompanied his rounds of 65 and 66 that will allow him to take a commanding lead into Saturday's third round at the 111^th US Open.

Already the parallels are being drawn with Tiger Woods's imperious US Open victory by 15 strokes at Pebble Beach in 2000 and in carving open a six-stroke lead over YE Yang on Friday, McIlroy equalled Tiger's record US Open lead for 36 holes from that heady week on the Monterey Peninsula 11 years ago.

What is more, McIlroy's aggregate of 131 is the lowest 36-hole total in US Open history and he got into double digits under par quicker than anyone in the famously challenging championship's annals when he holed out from 114 yards at the par-four eighth for eagle to move to 10 under. That was in his 26^th hole, the previous record was 39, set by Gil Morgan in 1992.

There could be more records to fall yet, although McIlroy is wisely preaching caution, but the praise is coming at the young Rory like an avalanche.

“I think everybody would agree he's probably got more talent in his pinky than I have in my whole body,” said Brandt Snedeker, his comment pretty much summing things up. Although the fact that Snedeker had just shot a 70 himself around Congressional to move to two under par put the statement into perspective.

“He is unbelievably talented. I don't know how old he is, 21, 22, shooting those kind of numbers and swinging the golf club the way he does and hitting it as solid as he does, he does everything well.

“I love watching him play because it's a very classical, beautiful golf swing. Once he matures and starts being out here for a while and being in these kind of situations, I think he's only going to get harder to beat. It's fun to kind of watch him grow up.”

Snedeker was truly awe-inspired by his rival's performance, adding: “I look back at my first two rounds and think if I had played my best golf I could be at seven or eight-under par max and he would have beat me by four, and I'm sure he left some out there at some point.

“He's that kind of talent. Everybody knows it. It's great to see him do that, especially on the heels of the Masters. I hope he can kind of keep it going for the weekend. As a fan of golf I'd love to see him win this week. As a competitor I'd love to see myself win. We'll see how it goes.”
Nine shots behind McIlroy, Snedeker, like many in his position, admitted that the leader's over the hills and far away score would not enter into his thinking come the third round on Saturday.

“He's really not a thought in my mind at all. If he keeps playing the way he's playing we're all playing for second place. That many shot lead going into the weekend if he keeps playing the way he's playing it's going to be impossible to catch him.

“You're trying to shoot the lowest number you can. I personally won't look at the leaderboard all weekend because there's no point. Just try to shoot as good as I can and find out how it stacks up on Sunday.”
That said, and just as Tiger Woods did before him, McIlroy's talent will be good for golf as a whole, not just the kid from Holywood, said Snedeker.
“I think anybody who makes people want to tune in and watch is a great ambassador, and Rory McIlroy makes people want to do that. He's a great kid, got a great head on his shoulders, which is very hard to do with his lifestyle.

“The amount of talent and success he's had at such a young age, he's a great ambassador. You couldn't ask for a better kid to be out there representing the game of golf.
“I hope he keeps doing what he's been doing and keeps playing great golf because it makes us all want to beat him. That being said, we've still got 36 holes to go, so we'll see what happens.”

 

 

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/Wo_Dhcr1dEQ/post.aspx

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