His fellow pros are unanimous Rory will win majors

Posted on 09/03/09. Source: Fairway to Green Magazine (By Staff writer)

Eleven years ago, an eight-year-old Rory McIlroy was scuttling around Wentworth Golf Club during the World Match Play tournament watching Mark O'Meara beat Tiger Woods in the final.

He has O'Meara's ball and autograph to prove it.

Such has been the meteoric rise through the ranks for the Ulsterman that he was able to tell the American this story when they played together for the first two rounds of the Dubai Desert Classic in January.

"It's just great for me to play with these guys now," said McIlroy.  "It's so cool."

O'Meara laughed at McIlroy's tale but then, having seen him up close for 36 holes, he had some serious views on the 19-year-old from Holywood, in Belfast.

"He's an extremely talented young man, there's no denying it," said O'Meara.

"I witnessed Tiger coming up and I've seen Anthony Kim the last couple of years. I can't see any reasons why Rory can't win many major championships.

"Ball-striking wise, Rory is probably better than Tiger was at that age. His technique is better. He's kind of a step ahead.

"Obviously he's going to win quite a few tournaments in Europe and in America too. There is no reason why he can't win major championships as well. He's got it."

Two days later, McIlroy claimed his first professional victory (pictured) but was careful not to get carried away with the comparisons with Tiger, a player he has idolised since watching him win the Masters on television in 1997, when McIlroy was just six.

"I don't think anyone can be compared to Tiger," he said.

"I'll never be able to do what he has done for golf. Hopefully, one day, I'll be able to win majors - what's he won, 14 of them? Well, I just hope to keep getting better and better and trying to win golf tournaments. If I can achieve half of what Tiger has achieved, that will be a pretty special career."

McIlroy told me last October that his goal was to climb into the world's top 50 by the end of 2009. But he got there two months later. After six top-10s in his last nine events, he became not only the youngest player to crack the world's top 50, he made it into the top 40 as well. Victory in Dubai has made him the youngest-ever player to break into the top 20 and his Masters debut is now secured.

He has never been to Augusta National and doesn't plan to make a special trip prior to the Masters.

He explained: "Everyone has been telling me I have got to prepare for the wow factor when I get there.

"It's going to be a great week no doubt about it. Your first time at Augusta is pretty special. I am sooo familiar with every hole. It's going to be like playing on a PlayStation. It's going to be awesome.

"But I am going to try to prepare for it like any other tournament. It really is just a practice range, clubhouse and a golf course. Although I know it's not just another golf course. And it's not just another tournament," he added.

McIlroy has already set up a Tuesday practice round with Ernie Els, but playing with O'Meara in Dubai has opened up the chance to play with Tiger, too.

"Mark said he'd fix it for me to play a practice round with him and Tiger," smiled McIlroy.

"That'll be incredible."

It will give McIlroy a priceless tutorial around Augusta while it will also give Woods the chance to see up close and personal what all the fuss has been about one of the twentysomethings that one day hope to take his No1 crown.

"I have realised how good I am. And I don't what that to sound cocky," McIlroy said.

"To break into the world top 10 this year can be done."

What else would he wish for in 2009?

McIlroy paused for 30 seconds before answering: "To win a major." Only three months ago, McIlroy believed he was still two years away from competing in a major.

"Golf has always come easy to me," he told me then. "But I am realising how hard it is to play well consistently on tour."

That two-year learning curve would have coincided with the 2010 Open at St Andrews, a course where, McIlroy revealed, he has never shot worse than 69.

"I've played the Old Course about 20 times and I find it easy," he said.

"I can make birdies. So roll on 2010. Winning the Open is a huge goal of mine and I always said that if I were to play the Open at St Andrews I would do well."

But McIlroy is ahead of schedule and has admitted to readjusting his goals.

"To be honest, I'd take any one of the four majors," he said laughing. McIlroy has been a shooting star waiting to explode across a bigger canvas.

He won the World Under-10 Championship at Doral, Florida and was a scratch golfer by the age of 13.

In 2005, his 61 set the course record at Royal Portrush and he represented Europe in the Junior Ryder Cup. In 2006, he shot three under-par rounds in the Dubai Desert Classic on the full European Tour, won the European Amateur championship, and played for Ireland in the Eisenhower Trophy, the amateur team championship.

In 2007, he was ranked the No1 amateur in the world and shot that sensational 68 in the first round of the Open at Carnoustie - the only bogey free round of the day. He then ended his amateur career in Great Britain & Ireland's losing Walker Cup team.

"I enjoyed being World No1 as an amateur," he said.

"It gives you an inner confidence that you know you are better than everyone else. That's probably how Tiger feels.

"He knows everyone is looking at him. He knows he's the best player and if he just plays his own game, he's going to win. I'd like to have that feeling again," he added with a smile.

"I know my ability. I have no problem saying, ‘I am going to be one of the best golfers in the world in the next five years.' But now it's all about working my way up the ladder again."

McIlroy has been positively bounding up the rungs. That maiden victory in Dubai was his eighth top-10 in his previous 12 tournaments, taking his earnings past £1m, and seeing his world ranking rocket from 172nd to 16th. "It has all happened very fast,"

McIlroy mused. "Most of my friends are at university and I'm out here playing golf for a living. It's pretty cool."

Ken Brown, a former European Ryder Cup player and now a TV analyst, has seen enough of McIlroy already to eulogise.

"I have not seen a British or Irish youngster with more talent, ever, apart from maybe Sandy Lyle," said Brown. "Rory is at the kind of level that Sergio Garcia was. I'm not saying like Tiger Woods because Tiger is a once-in-a-lifetime player. But Rory has a rare talent."

O'Meara and Brown are not alone in praising McIlroy's extraordinary talent. Bob Torrance knows a thing or three about golf swings and he tells the story of how a 15-year-old McIlroy had the confidence to ask him for help.

Torrance said he watched him hit a few balls then told McIlroy: "I wouldn't touch your swing and I don't think you should let anyone else touch it either."

And Torrance should know. He has helped turn serial self-doubter Padraig Harrington into a three-time major champion. McIlroy is managed by Chubby Chandler and his International Sports Management group that includes Ernie Els, Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke.

Els said in Dubai: "Rory has the potential to be Europe's best ever player. And he has the bonus that he is not going to be playing against Tiger in Tiger's best years."

Clarke was standing at the back of the green at the Emirates Golf Club to watch McIlroy make that remarkable up-and-down from the bunker to secure a one-shot victory over Justin Rose. Clarke resisted the temptation to throw the teenager into the pond, making the mature and graceful decision to stay in the background to allow McIlroy to revel in his own glory.

"I met him for the first time when he was 12," Clarke said. "He came to one of my foundation days in Northern Ireland and I knew within three minutes that he was something special."

How many shots did it take for Clarke to realise McIlroy's potential?

"One," Clarke insisted - and he was being deadly serious.

So how would Clarke fancy forming a Northern Ireland partnership with McIlroy at the 2010 Ryder at Celtic Manor in Wales?

"If I'm anywhere near Rory two years from now, I'll be a very happy man," Clarke said, grinning.