The future starts here

IT MAY have come a little later than expected butwhen Rory McIlroy’s maiden major victory came in the US Open at Congressional Country Club last night it was all the sweeter for the deep disappointment of 10 weeks ago.

As 10th holes go, the contrast between Augusta National’s and Congressional’s could not have been more stark as McIlroy closed on the 111th US Open Championship he would win in record-breaking fashion.

Back in April, McIlroy’s world had come crashing down around his flustered head as the Masters eluded him with a tee shot at the 10th so errant that he never recovered.

The Green Jacket had already begun to slip from his shoulders as he had walked to Augusta’s 10th, his game being slightly unpicked over the front nine, the four-shot 54-hole lead looking under pressure from the first hole. The triple bogey that followed on the 10th merely pushed McIlroy over the cliff.

Last night, the 22-year-old approached Congressional’s 10th tee with a spring in his step, so much more composed, seemingly having matured years in a matter of 10 weeks and with the comfort of an eight-shot lead over the field with nine holes to play.

He milled a six iron straight at the flag and watched the ball pitch and then spin back to a matter of inches from the cup. Then followed a brief whistle and a nod to caddie JP Fitzgerald and off he went to pick up another birdie.

There were four birdies and two bogeys in his final round of 69 as McIlroy completed the tournament in 16 under par, eight shots ahead of Australia’s Jason Day, with Yang and Lee Westwood tied for third at six under alongside 24-year-old American debutant Kevin Chappell and Robert Garrigus.

I COULDN’T ask for much more, I’m just so happy,” McIlroy said as he received his trophy. “Augusta was a very valuable experience for me. I knew what I needed to do today to win and at Augusta I learned a few things about myself and about my game and I put a few different things into practice and it paid off.”

Of his birdie two at the 10th, he added: “That was the point in the round that I really felt it was mine to lose. To make two there and get away with four at 11, I knew I needed to do something pretty bad to lose it. I played pretty solid on the way in and here I am.”

McIlroy, $1.44 million richer, becomes first US Open champion under par in all four rounds since Curtis Strange in 1994 and the youngest at 22 years and one month since 1945. The previous youngest had been three months older and named Jack Nicklaus, who would go on to win an as yet unsurpassed 17 more majors.

“Rory’s already ahead of my majors’ pace,” Nicklaus joked last night, “and his scoring is way ahead of my pace. This kid is going to have a great career and there is no question about it.

“He’s got all the components. He’s got a lot of people rooting for him, and he’s a nice kid. He’s got a pleasant personality. He’s humble when he needs to be humble. He’s confident when he needs to be confident.”

The previous night, as he contemplated an eight-shot lead after 54 holes, McIlroy had calmly explained to those who still doubted his new-found mental strength that he had learned from his mistakes at Augusta. In fact, his Masters heartbreak had never become a monkey on his back, the poor chimp had not even got close and had been probably buried underneath the scorer’s hut on the hill above Augusta National’s 18th green, so quickly and efficiently did McIlroy set about attacking the US Open set-up from Thursday.

The superlatives have been flowing ever since, barely keeping pace with the birdies as the Holywood youngster with just two professional victories before this, recorded successive rounds of 65, 66 and 68, breaking records like revellers throw plates at a Greek taverna.

Before last night’s final round, McIlroy had already recorded the US Open’s low first 36-hole score of 131, the lowest first 36 holes in relation to par of 11 under; the low first 54 holes of 199 and the lowest first 54 holes in relation to par of 14 under.

He had matched the largest 36-hole lead in Championship history, the six shots of Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach in 2000 and become the first player to reach 13 and 14 under par in the US Open.

Last night, he added getting to 15, 16 and 17 under par but it was more than just the statistics that were so impressive. The swing was a picture — some are calling it the best ever — the iron play deadly accurate, and the putting a massive improvement from the Masters and a testament to the work he has put in since with short-game guru Dave Stockton.

“That’s the best putting stroke I’ve ever seen,” former US Open champion Johnny Miller said on NBC Television after McIlroy rolled in another par putt at the third.

It really was one good shot after another, McIlroy stamping his authority on the final round and sending a message to the chasing pack with a birdie at the opening hole and another at the fourth, both of them par fours. There were a couple of wobbles off the tee but at the fourth, McIlroy calmed nerves by producing a peach of a wedge shot from 122 yards to three feet from the pin.

McIlroy was not flirting with disaster in any shape or form and his nearest rivals were not making inroads. Lee Westwood, with whom McIlroy had dined on Saturday night, had also birdied the first to get to six under, eight behind his management stablemate, but the world number two found water at the sixth for bogey.

Freddie Jacobson got to seven under at the eighth but bogeyed the 10th and Yang, McIlroy’s playing partner, reached nine under at the 10th only to bogey the par-four 11th.

Nine shots to the good with seven to play, it said much about McIlroy’s determination to see this victory through that when his first bogey of the round did come, at the par-fourth 12th, his look of agony seemed more fitting for a missed cut than dropping to 16 under par in a US Open.

But this was all about cruise control now. Victory was secure, even as Day, the young Australian who could emerge as one of McIlroy’s long-term rivals in the game, got to eight under with a birdie at the 16th. Yang was going backwards, dropping to seven under at the 15th and McIlroy still had birdies in him. He carved another one out at the par-five 16th to set up the homeward victory procession.

The walk down the 18th, with father Gerry keeping pace just outside the ropes was as composed as his play this week and the pair exchanged long-distance fist pumps as the son reached his ball on the fringe of the green. Outgoing champion Graeme McDowell came out to greet him as McIlroy sent in a brilliantly judged putt to inside a foot and the celebrations began, the grin on the new champion’s face telling the story beautifully as he dropped the winning putt, pumped his fist again, embraced caddie Fitzgerald and then gave his old man the biggest of bear hugs.

“I can’t describe how proud I am of him at the moment,” Gerry McIlroy said.

The future starts here.