Rory McIlroy has become the youngest winner of a golf major, since Tiger Woods won his first Masters in 1997, aged 22. Reminiscent of the great man, Rory smashed a whole heap of records along the way:
Quickest to reach -10 (after 26 holes)
First to go lower than -12
First player to reach -17
Lowest 36-hole total of 131
Equals biggest 36-hole lead of six shots set by Tiger Woods in 2000
Lowest 54-hole total of 199
Lowest 72-hole total of 268
Now he will be expected to challenge for every major title and the level of interest in Rory will go through the roof. Tiger was well equipped to cope with the pressure, or so we thought, but will McIlroy be able to continue playing stunning golf with the heightened expectation. We believe he can be a true great and challenge Tiger for the quantity of majors won. You only have to go back to this years Masters to see the mental strength of the guy. Four shots clear going into the final round and he suffered a golfing breakdown, finishing well down the field. This has happened to others in the past, Greg Norman and Jan Van De Velde spring to mind immediately but, Rory had the mental strength and ability to come back from that disastrous round. McIlroy has one of the best driving games on the planet and his short game is improving rapidly. The Ulster man moves up to 4th in the world rankings and we are hopeful he can become the world number one by the end of the year. One other accolade he is sure to win this year, the BBC Sports personality award. British sport will have another major boost this week with the start of the Wimbledon tennis championships. We have a few players that are likely to progress through to the third round expectations are high that we may see more than Andy Murray playing in the second week. After our days selling tennis balls and rugby balls, we are going to spend the next few weeks, like many others, looking for a tennis court to play on and have the odd round of golf. I can't wait for the Summer of sport to begin.
