McIlroy, Fowler downplay the Big Three or Four or Whatever
We’re kind of overdoing it with this Big Three — or Big Four, depending on how you feel about Rickie Fowler — stuff.
It’s fun to imagine we’re living in a time when the next Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player combo — again, we’d suppose Fowler is Lee Trevino or Billy Casper here — takes the golf world by storm. And they are, but not quite yet in the prolific way those players did in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.
However, the guys who are in the 21st century Big Three or Four seem to think the idea is all a little silly.
“Honestly, I think it’s overdone a little bit by the media,” McIlroy said to CNN. “We all want to beat each other regardless of whether we’re one, two or three in the world. But it’s good motivation, and hopefully this year I’m on the right path to do that.”
Sure, McIlroy, currently No. 2 in the world behind Jordan Spieth but ahead barely of Jason Day and Rickie Fowler, doesn’t need motivation to beat those guys. However, he’s also interested in being the biggest of the Big Insert Number Here.
Fowler sees the construct as a bit insulting to the guys who are playing really well but either aren’t in their 20s or are on the cusp, like he is, of a major breakthrough.
“You can keep going down the list and say there is a Big Five, Big 10,” Fowler said Tuesday ahead of the Waste Management Phoenix Open. “There is a lot of guys playing well. I know with what Rory, Jordan, and Jason have done, they have definitely distanced themselves.”
Rather than limiting ourselves to focusing on just shy of a handful of players, fans and media alike should realize with names like Justin Thomas, Tony Finau, Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka and more coming down the pipeline, that golf is in great shape.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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