You have to realize that Tiger came on to the tour with a history. He had won three US Amateurs and three US Junior Amateurs in a row. People were expecting great things from him from the beginning. Then, he won in his third PGA tour start. Eight months later he won The Masters after shooting 40 on the first nine. Shortly after that he ascended to the number one golfer in the world faster than anyone had ever done before. Then he went on to dominate the tour like no one had ever done before. During his first ten years, he won 25% of his starts including six in a row. No one ever had a winning percentage close to that.
He continued his domination for a long, long time after that.
When he first came on to the tour a lot of people wondered if, in spite of his stellar amateur record, he would live up to the expectations that were placed on him. Obviously he did and it became obvious to everyone including his fellow tour players that he would continue to dominate for a long time.
Rory arrived on the scene without quite as much fanfare. Not as much was known about him. He surprised a lot of people by winning the US Open by eight shots with a record setting total of -16 in 2011. The following year he won the PGA Championship and then had a little slump so people were still wondering whether he would keep up his winning ways. So I don't think that there was the same fear factor that Tiger induced.
When he won the Open Championship this year and followed it up with a win in his next start which happened to be a WGC event, I think that some of the players began to have a bit of fear. But, I really don't think it's at the level of the fear that Tiger instilled.
I don't know if anyone will ever create that kind of fear in tour players because they all lived through the Tiger years and saw that he did lose on occasion. He also won a few squeakers. I think that there are more fearless players out there today and I think that they all believe that they are the next Tiger. They certainly respect Rory and see that he can win, but I don't think that they are in awe of him like the players were of Tiger back when he was in his prime.
If Rory continues to do what he's been doing, he might instill that kind of fear, but it will take a lot.
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