Another US Open title for the Irishmen as Rory McIlroy wins his first major
To make up for his Masters deficit, Rory McIlroy roared to a record breaking victory on Sunday June 19 at the 111th US Open at Congressional Country Club in Maryland.
The Irishman finished for a staggering 16-under, 268, thrashing the best US Open winning score of 12-under of Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach. He was already 12-under until the halfway mark and kept capitalizing on his lead in the later rounds to eventually
bag his first major title at the age of 22.
McIlroy pulled in a final round of two-under, 69 to take over the closest competitor, Jason Day with an eight-shot lead. The Irishman walked all the way to hug his father Gery who had, in course of his life, worked three odd-hour jobs to see his son make
a career in the sport.
McIlroy gave the best gift to his father on the Father’s Day.
"Happy Father's Day," McIlroy told him.
Grinning from ear to ear, Gerry recalled his son’s unfortunate bid in the Masters.
"Unbelievable," he said. "With what's happened over the last couple of months, and to come back and do this, it's fantastic. After the Masters, he worked so hard. I really can't put it into words. And on Father's Day, it's fantastic. You couldn't beat it."
Since his melt down in the Masters in April, McIlroy kept working on his temperament to avert any such disaster in the future. He also heeded to the wise words of Jack Nicklaus of not paying unnecessary attention to the media stories circulating about his
downslide. He took special care to avoid the media during his four days on the course.
"Going back to Augusta this year, I felt like that was a great opportunity to get my first major. It didn't quite work out," McIlroy said. "But to come back straight away at the U.S. Open and win that is nice. You can always call yourself a major champion,
and hopefully after this, I can call myself a multiple major champion."
Among the many strong contenders in the field at this year’s US Open, many knew from the early rounds that they would rather be contending for the second spot and realized that McIlroy is way beyond their league.
Y.E.Yang, the PGA Championship winner, remained in contention for the second and third rounds, but dropped to a joint third after he dropped his shot thrice in the back nine.
Australian Jason Day, runner-up at Augusta, also sheared through the field to finish for another outstanding outright second, two shots clear of the third rank scores.
Yang finished alongside world number two Lee Westwood, Robert Garrigus, and Kevin Chappel, meanwhile Charl Schwartzel, the first round’s runner up, finished further down the leaderboard for a joint ninth alongside compatriot Louis Oosthuizen.
McIlroy with his stellar win has now soared to world number four in Official World Golf Rankings while last year’s champion Graeme McDowell slumped to number eight after his joint 14th finish.
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