Rory Mcilroy wins US Open 2011 at Congressional. Start of a major haul?

Rory Mcilroy won the US Open at Congressional last night finishing off his flawless US Open week with two under par 69 and a winning margin of eight shots. Rory Mcilroy's US Open victory will feel particularly special and important to him having been in contention in the last four major championships and in particular having thrown away a four shot lead heading into the final round of the US Masters back in April. The manner of the victory is also extremely impressive, you are not meant to destroy a field of the worlds top golfers in an event that is meant to be the hardest to win, yet Rory Mcilroy managed it, with ease.

Unlike at Augusta in April there was no sign of nerves, no shaky putting, no flip hooks with the driver. Rory Mcilroy just get knocking the flags out as he had done all week. There is no better example of this than on the par three 10th where he fired at the stick with a flushed six iron finishing just 6 inches from the hole. 

Only in 2000 at Pebble Beach where Tiger Woods won by a fifteen margin, has somebody dominated a US Open field in such a way. It is hard to match them and say who's performance was better for many reasons, however in my opinion from just watching on TV Mcilroy was every bit as impressive. There is no doubting his swing and overall game, the doubt was could Rory beat Rory. The demons from Aprils final round collapse. Well he proved he is major material last night and answered any doubters that were out there.

I think one difference to bare in mind when you compare the achievement of both Tiger and Rory is that when Tiger did it there was no shock. Being head and shoulders ahead of the rest of the worlds players at the time it was impressive yet not a total surprise, he contended and won most events anyway. With Mcilroy he has stepped up and done it at a time where everyone is fairly even. The world rankings seem to change weekly and it is a lot more competitive than it was when Tiger was head and shoulders above the rest. 

Another thing to mention is the twelve records that Rory Mcilroy has set over the past four days. Nobody is meant to do that to a US Open course, Jason Day finished second on -7, if you had given him or anyone that on Thursday they would have snatched your arm off and surely have been odds on to be holding a trophy by Sunday. Having had nobody in US Open history lower than 12 under Rory just kept on adding records as he got deeper and deeper under par.

So, the now the questions will be how far will Rory go from here in the majors. The commentators mentioned last night that maybe he is the man to break Jack Nicklaus' major championship record. This will be seen over time. That would be tough, as i said the fields are a lot more even now. When Tiger came about he was so far superior in swing, athleticism, mental approach and his aura that against all the mid thirty and forty somethings in the gme he was miles and miles ahead. Today that is not the case, Tiger raised the bar and people have caught up. That took a while but what he did with his body and approach to the game is now normal, shown in the fact that Rory now completes the sweep of twenty somethings holding all four major championships.

Exciting times for Rory Mcilroy now. We can all look forward to July and Royal St Georges to see the next major golf championship unravel.

Thanks for reading

Dan Gale
PGA Professional/TPI Certified

Dan is fully qualified member of the PGA & certified TPI Instructor

Check out his website at www.dangalegolf.com