Tiger Woods: Comparing Rory McIlroy to PGA Legend Is Foolish

Let's all get real for a second: Rory McIlroy is not Tiger Woods.

In fact, one week ago, McIlroy was one PGA Championship victory away from being a one-hit wonder. He certainly isn't Tiger Woods, one of the best golfers in the history of the sport.

McIlroy is very likable. He is far more likable than Tiger, and people want to see him win. People want to see him achieve the same level of greatness as Tiger.

And someday, he might. But he hasn't yet, and as such, saying he's the next Tiger Woods a day after he won his first-ever PGA Championship is like comparing Tim Tebow to Joe Montana the morning after he won his first career NFL game. Not that that stopped anybody. 

This isn't meant to detract from what McIlroy did this weekend at Kiawah Island. He was truly dominant—far more dominant than any golfer has been at any point this year. He won the PGA Championship by eight shots, just like he won the 2011 U.S. Open by eight shots.

It would be fair to compare McIlroy to Tiger if he won a string of consecutive tournaments by eight shots. Or if this year's PGA Championship win gave him a victory in each of the majors. Or if this year's PGA Championship win was something more significant than his second career major win.

But it's not.

As it stands, Rory McIlroy has won two majors. Both happened to be the two most dominant performances of his career. But as it stands, he still has yet to prove that both performances were not flukes.

This isn't to say that McIlroy cannot become the next Tiger. He has plenty of time to do so. But comparing them now is simply premature.

It's impressive that McIlroy has won two majors by eight shots, but it isn't incredibly relevant. Two flashes of brilliance do not a superstar make, and if you ask either Tiger or McIlroy, I'd be willing to bet that they'd both rather have more wins by fewer shots than a couple of incredibly dominant performances.

And it's not as if McIlroy has been right up there on the leaderboard in the majors he's lost. McIlroy has been terrible in 2012 until two days ago. He's been awful. When he's missed, he's missed by miles.

In between the 2012 Masters and the 2012 U.S. Open, he registered three missed cuts and a tie for 40th. In this year alone, McIlroy had registered only a single win before the PGA Championship—and that was in The Honda Classic. Tiger has three wins this year.

In his career, Tiger has 14 major victories. Now, after this weekend, McIlroy has two.

Even if Tiger is past his prime—which he might be—he is still light years ahead of where McIlroy is at the moment. McIlroy might get there—he has the potential, as Tiger himself has admitted—but it is very, very far off.

The thing that makes Tiger Woods a legend is longevity. It's something that is incredibly difficult to achieve and sustain, and its rarity is what gives it value. Longevity is something McIlroy is very, very far from achieving. It's going to take years and years of performances like the one McIlroy had this weekend in order to achieve the kind of success Tiger had from 1997 to 2008.

As of now, McIlroy has been excellent for parts of 2011-2012. And we're really comparing him favorably to someone who's emerged victorious from each major three times or more?

McIlroy hasn't even won each major yet. Perhaps we should wait until then before we start calling him the next PGA legend.