Shane Bacon golf mailbag: What do Rory, Tiger of old have in common?

Published May. 21, 2015 2:26 p.m. ET

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Shane Bacon

Is this really happening? Is this really the start of the 2015 golf season? Jordan Spieth wins the Masters. Rickie Fowler wins the Players. Rory McIlroy regains his form from 2014 and starts playing at that He Who Shall Not Be Named level of golf again. It’s incredible. And we haven’t even mentioned a Brooks Koepka win earlier in the year, the start for Jimmy Walker and Patrick Reed and the fact that the U.S. Open is headed to a place where Phil Mickelson will have a real shot at winning the one major he can’t seem to close out (we will get to that a bit later). Oh, and the second-best golf tournament on the European Tour schedule is happening this week (morning golf viewing!), with Rory, Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer and the usual suspects all battling at Wentworth.

If 2014 was the year of the LPGA, ’15 might be that for the PGA Tour and the future of this tour. If you want to be involved in the mailbag, fire me a question on Twitter or hit me with a longer one on Facebook. Question time? Question time.

Bacon: Short answer: yes. Long answer: hell yes. I love the list of guys you mentioned, but when Rory is grooving, it’s pretty much game over for everyone else in the field.

I tend not to look at the wins by the greatest players but more the way they play when they don’t have it. That, to me, is really how you judge the ability of a player. Tiger Woods was absolutely incredible at not only competing – but sometimes winning -- with his B and C game.

Rory is getting closer and closer to that level each season. He finished fourth at the Masters, and it was a disappointing week for him. He was T-8 at the Players without really anything close to what we saw at the match play. But the scary thing about McIlroy is the same thing that happened when Woods was running off win after win during his prime: He can dominate a golf tournament not with his putter but with his driver.

Like Tiger Woods in his prime, Rory McIlroy can win when he isn't playing his best golf.

McIlroy is ranked No. 1 in total driving this season -- absolutely ridiculous when you consider he’s eighth in driving distance -- and seems to bomb it longer and longer each and every week. (The great Justin Ray did an excellent job of summing up exactly how dominant Rory has been.)

McIlroy’s confidence and the way he’s swinging the golf club right now makes him a threat to not only win each week but to win a few in a row. To me, the factor for winning right now with McIlroy isn’t whether one of those names you mentioned above has a good week. It’s whether Rory has an off week. If he’s clicking, nobody is catching him, no matter the golf course or the event. He’s scary. This could be a fun summer.

Bacon: Oh my goodness what are you trying to do to me? You know Stephen Curry is my favorite athlete to watch right now. You know I may or may not own a pair of his basketball shoes and wear them with pride when I play pick-up. You may know that the No. 30 Warriors jersey is the first sports jersey I’ve owned since the green Pistons Grant Hill jersey from decades ago.

And you also know, I have to cover GOLF for a living!

What a dilemma. I’m not sure it’s fair to answer, but I’m going to do it politically.

Curry is 27, has been in the NBA since 2009, has played 416 NBA games and logged 14,559 minutes. Most NBA players start to decline in their 30s, but Curry is the special type of player who can eventually fall into a Ray Allen type of role for a team once he loses a bit of speed that comes with wear and tear on the body. (Man, just thinking about this is depressing ... let me go watch this again ... OK, I’m good.)

Stephen Curry is crazy fun to watch, but I'll stick to my man McIlroy when forced to choose.

I could see Curry playing until 38 or 39 if he wants — his sharp-shooting dad finished up at 37 — because that stroke he has isn’t going anywhere, and any team will be happy to have him sit in the corner and throw up threes when the defense collapses on whatever 13-year-old out there right now is the Next Big Thing.

Rory, on the other hand, is 26, has won four majors and plays a sport that sees legends compete well into their mid- to late 40s and even 50s (hello, Tom Watson). Of course, he has said he will retire by 40 if he achieves everything he wants. The big knock on this generation of golfers will be motivation because most already have enough money to keep them draped in furs and NetJets for two lifetimes (especially Rory).

But unlike every other player of this generation, Rory has a chance to do something special. A major win this year, and he will be at five before he turns 27. And considering he nearly shot 62 at St. Andrews last time the Open was there, let us not shy from the idea of his winning another two majors in 2015 (meaning he would have six).

Say Rory gets to 10 major wins before he turns 30 (in 16 more majors, including the 2019 Masters), meaning he has to win six of the next 16 (not crazy considering he’s won four of the last 14, and he’s definitely better now than he was in 2011, when he won his first). I think the motivation of not only catching Tiger, but catching Jack, could keep him interested for a longer period than some of the other young stars.

But, as we’ve seen, winning majors isn’t nearly as easy as guys like Tiger and Rory make it seem. We could see a two- or three-year slump by the current world No. 1, considering all the factors that play in, and if that happens, who knows. Maybe he won't care as much when he turns 40. Maybe he'll venture into other things when his game isn’t as sharp as it once was, but if he continues on this major path I see him continuing to compete well after Curry retires.

So ... I’m going Rory. And yes, that was the longest possible way ever for me to say that I’m going chalk here as a golf guy. I’ll send along an offer code later for the 5 minutes you’ll never get back.

Bacon: OK, this is definitely more like it. Thank you for curbing my anxiety after the last question.

But, wouldn’t it make more sense to have Curry and Spieth play together? Both Under Armour guys who seem to root for each other? Either way, it’s a win-win for all of us. Maybe we could get the two to play Pebble Beach? That would be pretty amazing.

Speaking of, I’m hi-jinxing the mailbag to ask my own question: What would be the most fun athlete-athlete pairing at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am?

I know a lot of people might go in One Direction with this answer, but I want to speak only about athletes.

Tiger-Jordan would be epic, even if the 2016 pairing of this would be the golf equivalent of Mayweather-Pacquiao (should have happened years ago, but we would all still watch).

Curry and Rory/Jordan/Rickie would be pretty amazing. I would also be down to see Rafael Nadal-Sergio, considering they are buddies who actually enjoy golfing and playing tennis together. Does Bryce Harper play golf? Could he be the first player ever to drive the 18th green at Pebble?

Who would you pick? Let me know on Twitter, and I’ll retweet the best answers.

Bacon: For me, it’s always faster golf. Waiting on tees kills momentum, kills the fun of the group, gets people to stop focusing on their game and start focusing on other things (their watch, their phones, how many holes they have left).

I can deal with a golf course in 5 out of 10 condition, but 5 ½-hour rounds just have to go. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Bacon: I think so. I wrote a predictions piece at my previous job about things I thought we could see in 2015, and that was one of my picks. (I also predicted a 58 on the PGA Tour, and with the Humana behind us, I might be paying on that one.)

I love St. Andrews. Absolutely love it. I caddied there after college, I’ve played it a few times in all sorts of conditions, and have been lucky enough to play it with my dad and my uncle, my two favorite guys to golf with. If I had one more round to play in my entire life, it would be on the Old, followed by a beer at the Dunvegan as the crowd around me recaps their rounds.

That said, if the wind is down, these pros will rip it apart. Wind is the one defense the Old Course has, so if it blows, we won’t see anything crazy low. If it doesn’t, like we saw in the opening round of 2010, we will have some guys go after that elusive major number. As I mentioned earlier, Rory was a short putt away from the 62 club five years ago, missing a bunny on the Road Hole only to birdie the 18th for 63.

If winds are down again, someone will at least have a shot at making birdie on 18 to do it.

Bacon: Count out Phil at the U.S. Open after this year? Come on, are you crazy?!

Phil should win this championship before his career is over. I find it crazy to think he won’t. But I also said the same thing about Andy Roddick at Wimbledon, and though he came thisclose against Roger Federer, it just wasn’t in the cards.

Phil Mickelson will have plenty more chances to win his first U.S. Open.

Chambers Bay couldn’t set up better for Mickelson. The course is long, it’s the most wide-open U.S. Open ever in the sense of fairway size, and it will not only require an incredible short game but a creative one. There will be pitch shots off tight lies, bump and runs, putts from off the green; you name it, we will see it, and we have yet to see someone as creative as Phil is around the green -- and someone who is as fearless taking chances around the green. (One of the most underappreciated things about Mickelson: At 44, he still has zero fear on the golf course, especially with his short game. I’m 31 and wake up a night thinking about important 5-footers.)

But if Phil doesn’t win this one, it won’t be his last shot. Mickelson hasn’t played Oakmont (2016) very well in the two U.S. Opens he played there (T-47 in ’95, only his second missed cut ever at the U.S. Open in ’07), but after that, he has some great venues for his game.

Erin Hills (2017) will be a toss-up style of U.S. Open much like Chambers, but then we have Shinnecock Hills (where he’s nearly won before), followed by Pebble Beach, Winged Foot and Torrey Pines. Phil has either won or nearly won on those courses before, so if he’s healthy, he will at least have a chance in all of those majors through 2021.

So yes, I think when Phil gets to Chambers Bay, he will show how great of a chance this golf course gives him to complete the career Grand Slam. But I don’t think it’s his final shot at this championship.

Bacon: The Bandon rankings is one of my favorite parts about taking people to one of the greatest golf destinations on the planet. After my buddy Andrew finished all four, it was my first question, and the same can be said for my uncle. (My dad, who went with me last year, actually changed his picks this year after a second trip.)

Pacific Dunes is known for its unbelievable views.

My rankings are always the same:

1.) Bandon Trails

2.) Bandon Dunes

3.) Pacific Dunes

4.) Old Macdonald

But like I’ve said before, ranking these golf courses just isn’t fair. It really should read like this:

1a.) Bandon Trails

1b.) Bandon Dunes

1c.) Pacific Dunes

1d). Old Macdonald

The knock on Trails is it isn’t by the ocean, something my dad had said after his first trip — “It looks like a course in East Texas,” was something close to what he told me — but after another trip around the brilliant Coore-Crenshaw design, he took in the artistry of the place and put it near the top of his own list.

Both my uncle Doug and buddy Andrew ranked their favorites the same: Bandon Dunes, Trails, Pacific and then Old Mac. It just goes to show that everybody can take different things from all the courses. Bandon Dunes is amazing because you can score, and the back nine is breathtaking. Pacific Dunes has the best views on the property. Old Mac is a completely different feel and forces you to hit different types of shots on some fun and unique holes. And then Trails makes you feel like you’re 900 miles away from the other three courses when you get to the third tee, a peaceful walk that makes you feel like you’re the only group on property.

It’s just a brilliant place. I loved being there, both for work and for fun.

Shane Bacon is a regular contributor to FOXSports.com's golf coverage. Follow him on Twitter at @shanebacon.

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