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Rory McIlroy’s performance in the 111th United States Open at Congressional Country Club was something that people had never seen. In 2000, Tiger Woods dominated Pebble Beach and the field, winning by a ridiculous fifteen shots, shooting twelve under par. It was that tournament and that player, many people drew comparisons to, even McIlroy. McIlroy reached that twelve under mark during the second round remarkably, and set the record for lowest under par during a U.S. Open at thirteen on the 35th hole of the tournament. Thirteen under par through thirty-five holes is golfing your ball even at the Quad Cities (one of the easier tournaments on the PGA Tour) but this was the U.S. Open. Going into the weekend McIlroy was eleven under, six shots ahead of second place.
However impressive and flawless McIlroy was in the first thirty-six holes, questions about his collapse at the Masters and his final round eighty still masked the outstanding and historical golf that was being played. He had to prove that he could handle the pressure of the weekend at a major, and he did that by shooting another impressive, methodical round of three under par on Saturday to increase his lead to eight going into Sunday. Saturday was the day he needed to prove people wrong and because of the sizeable lead, McIlroy cruised without much pressure, leading by eight or nine shots for most of Sunday, and eventually won by an unthinkable eight shots with a final score of sixteen under par.
McIlroy’s resilience, humbleness and pure talent is a combination that has everyone talking. Players on Saturday were comparing him to Tiger Woods, not just his performance this week. Three time major champion Padraig Harrington went so far to say that McIlroy would be the one to challenge Jack Nicklaus’ major record set at eighteen. What? He had yet to win a single major when this was said on Saturday.
As a golf fan, I think we need someone that is dominant in order to make golf more entertaining. Tiger Woods was that guy for more than a decade and because of his recent struggles, fans and media are quick to label McIlroy the next great thing. I’m not sure Tiger will ever be the same player he was, but to label McIlroy the next Tiger Woods after winning one major, albeit a historical one, is borderline psychotic. People tend to forget through all the tough times Woods has gone through that he was possibly the best golfer its sport has ever seen. As for the comment made by Harrington, all we can do is just laugh it off because that’s exactly what McIlroy did as he was asked about it on Saturday following his round. But for now, since everyone is so intent on putting labels on young players, let’s just label McIlroy as a great young talent with unlimited ability and enjoy the ride.
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