Roars for Rory

They say that the crowd roar at a US Open is unlike that of any other tournament.  I got the chance to hear that roar this weekend at Congressional Country Club, and the experience was truly special.  Rory McIlroy, the 22 year old phenom from Northern Ireland, the lad who blew the Masters two months ago with a final round of 80, entered the final day with an almost unprecedented 8 shot lead on the field.  Rory had a chance Sunday to destroy a major championship field like Tiger Woods did in the 2000 US Open, or to collapse again like he did at Augusta. 

The US Open, one of golf’s four major championships, is truly “open” in that anyone with a 1.4 handicap index or better may try to qualify for a spot in the field.  Every player who tees it up in the Open has to play their way in.  The big guns qualify through various criteria; world golf ranking, high finishes in majors, etc.  Journeyman tour pros have to qualify along with amateurs through a series of local and sectional tournaments for the remaining spots.  So while the tournament is almost always won by a top player, there is a chance for a regular guy with a great golf game to compete with the best for the trophy.  Guys like Bud Cauley, formerly a member of the University of Alabama golf team, who made his professional debut memorable by making the cut and cashing his first check.  Patrick Cantlay, a 19 year old freshman at UCLA, not only made the cut, but played in a late group on Sunday after finishing three rounds at one under par.  His final score of even par would have earned him about $97,000.  However Patrick is an amateur so he had to be content with earning the admiration of the golf world for his excellent play.

My son joined me in DC this weekend and we spent 19 wonderful hours Saturday and Sunday walking the course, watching great golf, and relishing the experience.  We were one of many father/son pairings sharing the day together and it doesn’t get much better than this for a golfer on Father’s Day.  I won’t forget it and knowing my son, he won’t either.

 Sunday’s atmosphere was exciting and a little tense as most of the crowd was getting nervous for McIlroy.  We found a spot in the bleachers behind the practice range about an hour before the final group teed off and the crowd erupted with applause as Rory walked onto the range to warm up.  He seemed almost too loose to me as he laughed and joked with his agent and caddy in between towering iron shots.  I can’t fathom how a 22 year old can deal with the pressure he was under with thousands of spectators watching from the perimeter of each hole and millions more on TV.  I have a 9 handicap and I don’t think I could have made contact with the ball on the first tee in that situation.  But we pay money to see these pros because they can perform under pressure, sometimes.  Rory answered all the questions by birdying the first hole, and generally played flawless golf for the rest of the round.

To avoid the crowd following the final group, we staked out a spot on the 11^th fairway near where the players hit their second shots.  ESPN radio earpieces (a nice free perk from the tournament) kept us up to date on McIlroy’s progress and he made it through the front nine two under par.  We heard the first great roar from the crowd surrounding the 10^th hole when Y.E. Yang, McIlroy’s playing partner hit his tee shot on the par 3 about 4 feet from the hole.  The gimme birdie would bring Yang within 7 shots of the lead.  But then Rory countered with a shot that landed behind the hole and spun back to less than a foot away.  The roar from the crowd on 10, the US Open roar, signaled that Rory had effectively iced the tournament.  Cheers followed McIlroy up the 11^th fairway where we watched him hit a perfect 300 yard drive and a long iron to the safe side of the green to set up a par.  Five more pars along with a birdie and a bogey and Rory McIlroy finished off his masterpiece of a final round 69.  The 8 stroke margin of victory was the most in a US Open since Woods’ epic performance in 2000.

Now the inevitable comparisons with Tiger begin.  McIlroy will never have to answer questions about the Masters collapse again, but the media will speculate as to whether he is the next “Tiger”.  One thing is for sure.  Rory McIlroy is great golfer and at 22, is poised to become the number one player in the world.  He also seems like a genuinely nice young man and is gracious in every interview.  He’s the best of a contingent of foreign players who are currently dominating world golf.  It used to be that golf fans in this country rooted against non-Americans, especially in “our Open”.  But we’ve gotten used to the great foreign players over the years and now can embrace them the way we do American champions.  If anyone at Congressional was rooting against McIlroy this past weekend, they were doing it quietly.  The deafening roars clearly identified the people’s choice and the way he answered the call made the 111^th US Open an historic tournament and a great memory for a father and a son.