Around 24 hours after his impressive – no – immaculate US Open victory, it is fitting that we, the general public give Rory McIlroy all the plaudits he deserves. Rory, with memories of a calamitous final round in the Masters this April where he shot an 80 after starting the final day 4 shots clear of the field , showed that he learnt those tough lessons well, and quickly to destroy the field and the tough Congressional course set up to USGA standards.
Sure, the course was playing easier than the USGA suits wanted, due to heavy rain the night before the first days play, and throughout the championship, ensuring that the greens were receptive rather than hard and fast like we are used to seeing at a US Open, but nothing takes away from the fact that Rory’s performance was as, if not more, domineering as Tiger Woods’ US Open victory in 2000 at Pebble Beach, when he carded 12 under for the championship, a full 15 shots less than his nearest rivals.
And what of Tiger? In hindsight, the former world’s number 1 must have been thankful that he had to pull out of this year’s US Open due to injury, for even at the top of his game (which would be unlikely, as he has not hit those heights for years) he would have found it hard to keep up with McIlroy’s ‘fairways and greens’ play.
I believe that McIlroy’s mature performance in the US Open indicates that there are plenty more Majors for him on the horizon, and I would also put it out there that we should be talking about potentially McIlroy breaking Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 career Majors, rather than Tiger, who has stagnated on 14 since his last Major Win at the US Open in 2008 at Torrey Pines.
What do you think of Rory McIlroy? Do you believe he can become a big player in the sport, and be as successful as Tiger Woods? Certainly from an on-course perspective, I do.
GWA
Tiger has had it. His discrepancies and injuries have seen his career take a big dip. He might come back from his nightmare last few years to claim a couple more Majors. But it's the beginning of the end for him.
ReplyDeleteRory? Very impressive, but lets see how long it takes for him to get to 5 Majors before we start thinking about Jack Nicklaus’ record.
Really liked the McElroy piece, I think we forget how difficult it is to win a major event like the open or the masters. If ya don't believe me just ask Greg Norman.
ReplyDeleteWhen we talk about what next for Rory, "WHO CARES" he's done it and nobody can take that one away. The rest is just resigned to people’s fickle memories and the back pages of a sport annual in the 50p bargain basket of some charity shop...!