Rory McIlroy Reigns as “The Celtic Tiger”

by Jeff Skinner

It was a wild tournament this week at The Quail Hollow Championship.  First we watched Tiger Woods implode and miss the cut.  Then Phil Mickelson gets sick and when he wasn’t tossing his cookies he was threatening to win back to back tournaments.  We saw Billy Mayfair putt his way to a third round lead only to lose his chance to win with a poor final round.  Finally we got to see a young phenom reach his much heralded potential.   In what was the lowest round of the year by a PGA pro, Rory McIlory came from behind to claim his first PGA Tour victory in historic fashion.  McIlroy’s final round 62 gave him a four stroke win over runner up Phil Mickelson.

McIlroy almost spent the weekend like Woods as he barely made it to the weekend as he made the cut on the number.  Once he got to the third round he settled down and shot the low round of the day in both the third and fourth rounds.  He set the record for low 36 holes in the last two rounds as well as a new course record with his 62 on Sunday.  He finished with an unreal six consecutive threes over the last six holes.

When McIlroy won on The European tour a last February he was touted by the European press as the “Celtic Tiger.”  With Tiger Woods losing his game lately maybe the Celtic Tiger’s time has come.  We’ve been waiting for McIlroy to play this kind of golf since he committed to full time status on the PGA Tour.  He turns twenty one on Tuesday and said he’ll have a heck of a party then.  It looks like he started his party a little early this weekend.  He’s one of the high profile young studs that can carry a tournament and he can easily be a superstar on the PGA Tour for years to come.