Virginia Golfer September / October 2014 | Page 40

Virginia Golfer Voices

by SCOTT MICHAUX

RORY ROARS to Forefront
of Golf’s Consciousness

T

here can be no doubt anymore. Golf’s changing of the
guard was emphatic—a fourpart ritual performed over two
continents across six weeks from
mid-July to mid-August.
Rory McIlroy has taken over from Tiger
Woods as the reigning king of golf. The
transition steps could not have been made
more clear.
Step 1 (July 20): McIlroy went wire-towire on the stage of Tiger’s last British Open
victory eight years ago, winning the claret
jug at Hoylake to become
the third youngest golfer in
history (behind Woods and
Jack Nicklaus) to win three
legs of the career Grand Slam.
Step 2 (Aug. 3): McIlroy
rallied on Sunday to win the
World Golf ChampionshipsBridgestone Invitational on the
Firestone course where Tiger
won eight times, reclaiming
the world No. 1 ranking while
Woods limped to his car wincing
with back pain after a fifth midround withdrawal since 2010.
Step 3 (Aug. 10): McIlroy
joined the fraternity of Woods,
Nicklaus, Bobby Jones and
Young Tom Morris as the only
golfers to win four majors by age
25, winning the PGA Championship in darkness on the
Valhalla course where Woods
outdueled Bob May to claim
the third leg of his Tiger Slam in
2000. Woods watched from his
sofa after missing the cut.
Step 4 (Aug. 19): In case
you’d missed the other competitive signs, McIlroy and Woods
appeared together on “The
Tonight Show Starring Jimmy
Fallon” to promote a new set of
Nike clubs. With Woods and his
aching back/retreating hairline
leaning stoically on a golf bag,
McIlroy proceeded to talk about
the 14-time major winner in the

past tense right in front of him.
This exchange is sure to be posted on
Tiger’s wall right next to the list of Nicklaus’
18 majors as fuel for his quest.
Fallon: “What have you learned from
the master?”
McIlroy: “I guess this little run that I’m on,
it makes me appreciate what he’s done in the
past. I mean, just phenomenal to keep a run like
this going and he’s done way more than me. It
makes you appreciate how hard he worked and
what a dominant figure he was in our game.”
Boom! End of ceremony. There’s nothing

more to see here. Just as the lights symbolically
faded at each one of the previous steps, the
spotlight has narrowed onto the Rory Era
as the Tiger Era fades into the darkness on
the edges.
While it’s way too premature to start counting down McIlroy’s pursuit of Woods and
Nicklaus on the major charts, it’s apparent that
he’s golf’s new man to beat whenever everyone
gathers on the major stages.
“I said I thought winning the Open
Championship a few weeks ago had sort of put
me on a higher level in this game,” McIlroy

Just as the lights
symbolically faded
at each one of the
previous steps,
the spotlight has
narrowed onto the
Rory Era as the
Tiger Era fades
into the darkness
on the edges.

38

VIRGINIA GOLFER | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014

w w w. v s g a . o r g