The Future of Golf: Rory McIlroy

The 2009 PGA Championship, the year’s last Major golf tournament, came to a stunning conclusion on Sunday, as South Korean, Y.E. Yang, a man no one had heard of, managed to take down the world’s best golfer in the final round. While the record books will have to wait a little longer for Tiger Woods to rewrite them, the finale was wonderful, and we should hope to see more finishes like this one in the future. The true test of greatness in an athlete is how well he responds to pressure.

It remains to be seen if Y.E. Yang will be but a splash in the pan, but there are some strong candidates emerging who will challenge Woods in the upcoming years. The first name that comes to mind is Padraig Harrington. Although he had a disastrous Sunday at Hazeltine – a quintuple bogey on the 8th hole put him out of contention – he has shown consistency and mental fortitude over the last two years, the likes of which few golfers can claim. There are others as well, but the name you should remember is Rory McIlroy.

Born and raised in Northern Ireland, the 20 year old McIlroy has long been touted as the future of golf, and with his development this past year, the future may come sooner than expected. In 2009, McIlroy played in the first four Majors of his career and incredibly made the cut in all of them. It started in April at The Masters where he finished the weekend in a tie for 20th. In June, he followed that up with a 10th place tie at the U.S Open. July’s Open Championship (commonly known as The British Open) was tougher for him, as he only managed a t-47th place finish, but keep in mind that Tiger Woods didn’t even make the cut at this tournament. Finally, this past weekend, McIlroy put together his best performance yet at a Major tournament, finishing tied for 3rd at -3.

The youngster also won his first professional golf tournament this year at the Dubai Desert Open in February. At the tender age of 20, McIlroy has achieved his success so far based on mental strength and god-gifted power. With only a few months left on golf’s 2009 calendar and then an off-season before the next Major, he will have some time to work on the variety and maturity of his game, and he will likely improve by leaps and bounds in 2010.

Woods, Harrington and the rest better be careful when they look in the rear-view mirror: objects are closer than they appear.