McIlroy’s Remarkable Month

It was only a two shot victory, but somehow Rory made it look easier. With his win at the BMW Championship, Rory McIlroy has won his third tournament in a month, including a Major and back-to-back PGA Tour playoff tournaments. The run has cemented the young Irishman as the best player in the world; he currently has a three point lead in the World Golf rankings.

No, McIlroy hasn’t yet won five or six times in a year as Tiger Woods did in his heyday. And he has a lifetime of Major wins to acquire before he can seriously be considered a challenger to either Jack or Tiger. But McIlroy has won three in short order against some very strong fields: a major field in the PGA Championship, and two fields of top PGA Tour players. In fact, the Sunday leaderboard was full of current or future Hall-of-Fame players. The way he is swinging the club, I see no reason why he can’t win the Tour Championship in two weeks.

With the BMW Championship trophy on his shelf, McIlroy is surpassed only by Tiger Woods (15) and Jack Nicklaus (8) in amassing at least six wins on the PGA Tour by age 23. He’s the youngest to win two Majors since Seve.

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that he is player of the year.

I hope that McIlroy’s rise heralds something I’ve been waiting to see since Tiger started trouncing the professional golf world: true competition. When Tiger was at this best, there was little doubt as to the outcome of tournaments. If he was in the lead on Saturday night, a victory Sunday was a given. That to me was not very interesting (and if Rory does the same thing, I won’t find it any more interesting than it was with Tiger.)  Now, however, I am starting to believe that there are half a dozen players who are capable of winning every week, and top of the list are Rory and possibly, a rejuvenated Tiger.

Looking forward to the Tour Championship.