US Open Champ Rory McIlroy ends the year with a grin
The cheeky freckled-faced Irish, young Rory McIlroy rewrote history in June when he pulled in a spectacular wire-to-wire victory at the US Open in Congressional Country Club, Washington DC, to become the second youngest player after Bobby Jones in 1923 to
achieve the milestone. A whooping eight-shot victory in the final round surfaced him as one of the most potent forces of the sport and many started drawing resemblance with the once-glorious Tiger Woods.
He was named Race to Dubai European Tour Golfer of the Month in June and considerably made up for the loss he had to incur in the Masters the previous month.
“It is always nice to win any award for playing good golf but this Race to Dubai European Tour Golfer of the Month has to go down as an extra special one given that I won the award due to my performance at Congressional. I hope this will not be the last
Golfer of the Month Award I receive after winning a Major Championship!” McIlroy said after his nomination for the award.
After turning professional in the year 2007, McIlroy carded his first professional victory on the European Tour at the Dubai Desert Classic in February 2009 when he defeated Justin Rose by one stroke. Earlier, McIlroy had posted some strong finishes to break
into the top-50 of the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) including runners up finish at UBS Hong Kong Open in 2008, a joint third in South African Open and ended up finishing for a joint 20th in the Masters in 2009.
McIlroy’s worst performance for the year undoubtedly is the mental melt down he suffered in the final round of Masters, where he threw away a four shot lead going into the final round. Opening with a blistering bogey-free seven-under, 65 on the first day,
the Irishman surged to the top of the leaderboard. He carded another low of 69 on Friday to extend his lead by two shots over Australian Jason Day. He pulled in another low of 70 on the third day, finishing four strokes ahead of the nearest contender only
to throw away his precious lead with consecutive bogeys on the final day, which turned out to be the worst round by any player in the history of the championship who has led the previous round. He finished for high of 80, for a joint 15th.
After his overwhelming victory at the US Open, McIlroy went on a whirlwind tour across the world to play assorted events all over. He won the UBS Hong Kong Open in December, on one his favourite hunting grounds, marking his third European Tour victory. The
22-year-old Irishman also switched lanes when he ditched the world renowned sports management company International Sports Management (ISM) apparently having problems with the manager Chubby Chandler.
He also broke headlines several times for his reckless comments on a struggling Tiger Woods and over Links Golf after his disappointing performance in the Open Championship. He was referred to as the “spoiled Brat” by many of the golf critics.
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