Rory McIlroy surprised by 'very average' rival becoming major champion

Rory McIlroy had no idea what all the fuss was about the first time he played with Jordan Spieth.

With a glittering junior pedigree and a PGA Tour win at the age of 19, Spieth was one of the most hyped-up youngsters of his generation. But McIlroy was not overly impressed after first getting the chance to watch him at close quarters more than a decade ago.

"The first time I played with Jordan Spieth, 2013 San Antonio," he told Normal Sport. "I played the first two days with him and he missed the cut. And I’m like, ‘What is the big deal with this kid? Very average.’"

Spieth went on to finish tied for second at the Masters the following year, and put together a remarkable season two years after McIlroy's assessment, which proved to be way off the mark. With wins at the Masters and the US Open, as well as a second-place finish at the PGA Championship and a joint-fourth at The Open, the American came within a whisker of winning the grand slam in 2015.

He added another major title to his collection by clinching The Open two years after that, while McIlroy's search for a first major since 2014 goes on.

The 35-year-old also discussed players on the other end of the spectrum, who bowled him over in the amateurs but never went on to fulfil their potential.

He started by naming his relatively unknown archnemesis, Philip Francis. "I finished second and third to him all of my teenage years," said McIlroy. "Like, I just could not beat this guy. He went to UCLA. He won the US Junior, I think. He won the US Junior Am. And I thought this kid was unbeatable."

Francis fell out of love with golf during his college years and eventually went into finance after making just one cut on the PGA Tour.

McIlroy continued: "There’s so many intangibles in golf that some guys looked like world leaders at an early age. I tell you another one is Oliver Fisher.

"So Ollie Fisher and I were the two best amateurs coming out of the UK and Ireland. He played Walker Cup, the one before I did. Got his tour card right away. And then, same thing. Sort of on and off the European Tour.

"He’s won a couple of European Tour events. But if you would have asked anyone 20 years ago, everyone would have said Ollie Fisher was probably going to go on to have a better career than I’ve had."