Rory McIlroy: More than just sporadic brilliance

KIAWAH ISLAND, SC – AUGUST 12: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland celebrates on the 18th green during the Final Round of the 94th PGA Championship at the Ocean Course on August 12, 2012 in Kiawah Island, South Carolina.

An 8-stroke victory, Northern Irish prodigy, potential golfing great – well, we’ve heard this all before, haven’t we? Yet, Rory had his own peculiar way to remind his critics that he won’t be one of those typical one-major wonders. It’s the manner in which he defied his critics that make him the mercurial figure he is in the game today, and this second Major win with a record-breaking 8-stroke margin in the bullying conditions of Kiawah Island will only help the doubts fade away in a hurry.

The magnitude of the achievement by the newly crowned world no. 1 cannot be taken lightly, as one has never seen a more dominant performance in a PGA Championship – closest to him was Jack Niklaus at the peak of his powers in 1980 with a 7-stroke win. Moreover, in the hostile course conditions in South Carolina where a round under-par looked like an emphatic outing, Rory played a bogey-free final day, in fact strolling at ease and hugging his father before the final hole to play. Whether it’s about hitting unimaginably long drives or opening a gap one could have never foreseen before this weekend – Rory has always worked his way to deliver resounding results on every rung of his golfing ladder.

The sheer dominance which he displayed on the field for most of the past golfing weekend is comparable to lapping all other competitors in a race. “He was just better than everybody and it was clear just – it was clear to everybody, I think,” Pettersson, one of his playing partners and the first-hand witness of that blistering final round, said yesterday. While many of his rivals like Woods, Poulter and Lynn saw the title slipping away from their grasp on the decisive final day, I would call it a well-worked performance, scaled perfectly with realistic targets throughout the weekend. Prior to this tournament, his putting was not up to his normal standards and he admitted that a lot of work went into improving that attribute in the build-up to this tournament. Dave Stockton, a former PGA player who has been assisting Rory with his putting of late, played a crucial part in reinvigorating his form before this Major and his performance on the back-nine at the course was purely decided by his putting abilities.

After showing some tentativeness on the first day, Rory miraculously played like a completely different player thereafter. He faced the challenge with the familiar Irish swagger, supremely confident, unlike his previous few outings at the Majors which were marred with unfortunate injuries and rounds played without conviction. He led for most of the tournament, a place he wasn’t familiar being at for a long time, but nerves never played a part in his game. In fact, his surge through the last few holes reminded me of Faldo for the sheer attacking options he used even when a victory was as near as it gets. On his day, Rory never fails to exhibit that aggressive playing style, and the crowds at Kiawah were lucky enough to witness one of those days.

The media, on the other hand, surely misses the formidable periods of Woods’s dominance, and is still looking for a permanent source of golfing news, which brings McIlroy under the microscope. Credit must go to Rory for handling so much scrutiny on his temperament, his personal life and also his credentials to be world no. 1. Every time he’s found a way to comeback with a record-breaking win and then of course with his targeted words – another sign which reflects that Rory and critics thrive on each other’s activities, and none would complain until it stops propelling them to greater heights.

Even after winning his first Major at the US open last year, I wondered whether that moment was the start of a significant patch of success that every golfing great achieves and then cherishes throughout his life – sadly it wasn’t. However, again, after winning this PGA Championship so convincingly, I cannot help myself picturing Rory playing golf of the highest order consistently for a long period of time, thus transforming his image of being brilliant sporadically into a true master of the game – and that would certainly be a sight to relish for every McIlroy fan.