Remember when some fella named Tiger Woods exploded onto the golf scene? Safe to say Rory McIlroy is beginning to make a similar splash coming off a dominant U.S. Open win last month. And with the next major coming this weekend at Royal St. George's Golf Club in Kent, England, this is a great opportunity for McIlroy to establish himself as the next big superstar on the PGA Tour.
The 22-year-old from Northern Ireland has had himself a pretty good haul in 2011. He almost left Augusta National with their famed green jacket at The Masters, but a dismal final round dashed any chance of that (he shot an 80, 8-over-par), and he ended up tied for 15th in the final rundown, ten strokes behind eventual Masters champion Charl Schwartzel of South Africa. Then came the U.S. Open at Congressional just outside of Washington, DC. His final 72-hole score was 268, a tournament record, as he finished eight strokes ahead of runner-up Jason Day of Australia (who also finished tied for second at The Masters).
Come Thursday morning across the pond, McIlroy will be entering the British Open as an obvious favorite. He's coming off a three-week break from his U.S. Open triumph, and should he win the tournament at Royal St. George's, it wouldn't just be his second-straight major victory, but it may also be a very popular victory in his home country given Northern Ireland's geographic proximity to England. And with Tiger Woods not on the entry list for the tournament, I say McIlroy's chances of winning his second straight major look very good, despite some other big names on the list like Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, and countless others looking to make history of their own as a champion of the British Open.
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