US Open / Steven Rawlings / 20 June 2011 /

Awesome Rory delivers in style but where was the American challenge again?

Just two months after his tragic collapse at Augusta, Rory McIlroy finished off a most extraordinary performance at Congressional in fine style to comfortably claim his first major title.

It's never easy to win any event wire-to-wire; to do it at a major is astonishing. The event was effectively won on Friday when McIlroy followed up his stunning 65 with an equally awesome 66 and after that it was a case of holding his nerve and keeping his cool. An accomplishment achieved with ease.

Impressive doesn't quite cut it, it was an awesome performance.

My Bets

In short, it's been a poor week, with the only joy coming in the shape of Peter Hanson, who thankfully managed to squeeze past Freddie Jacobson to become the Top-Scandinavian.

From a punting perspective, the manner in which Rory won, pretty much ruined the outright market. It's not often someone goes odds on before we get to the weekend and unless you played the "Without" market, options were limited. I wish I'd followed Paul Krishnamurty on Saturday now, because he successfully picked out Jason Day in that market at a very juicy [65.0].

Player to watch

I've been wary of young Rory for years, and with good reason. He'd given up many a chance for victory in plenty of tournaments but all those doubts have been blown away now.

The wider British public were stunned by McIlroy's Masters meltdown but regular golf punters weren't - we'd seen it all before. Thankfully that's now history and nothing more - I shudder to think what sort of state the 22-year-old would have been in had he blown it this weekend! Mercifully, that never ever looked likely to happen.

He's served his apprenticeship now and graduated with honours and what we have now is a genuine world number one in waiting and we needed one too. I don't want to be disrespectful to the current one and two but does anyone really feel like Tiger Woods has been properly replaced as the world's best player?

The official rankings reflect consistency over two years and Luke Donald and Lee Westwood are consistent with a capital C but we all know what's missing from both men's CV's. Surely it's only a matter of time now before McIlroy reaches the top of the tree and when he does it will feel just right. After yesterday, in my eyes, and I suspect many other peoples, he is the best in the world and the sooner the rankings reflect that the better.

Players to swerve

When Graeme McDowell won last year he became the first European to win in 40 years. Here we are twelve months later and Northern Ireland is celebrating a unique and special double. But where was the American challenge?

Only two Americans made the top-ten and they were hardly household names. Kevin Chappell won on the Nationwide Tour last year and finished 2nd at this year's Valero Texas Open, and Robert Garrigus won last year's Children's Miracle Network Classic. Both players finished in the tie for 3rd, performances that nobody could have foreseen and it's safe to assume that to casual major event only viewers, they were pretty much strangers.

Ricky Fowler, Hunter Mahan, Dustin Johnson, Nick Watney etc all under-performed in relation to their pre-event prices and their publics expectations and I wonder whether any are close to being capable of filling the void being left by Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

We've now reached a run of five majors without an American win - an unimaginable state of affairs a couple of years ago.

Thankfully the American public have quite rightly taken to Rory. He's not just a brilliant golfer; he's blossoming into a very likable young man and Jack Nicklaus summed it up better than I can when he spoke last night.

"He's got a lot of people rooting for him. He's a nice kid. He's got a pleasant personality.

"He's humble when he needs to be humble, and he's confident when he needs to be confident."

Rory has the golf world at his feet but you have to wonder how much weight is on his shoulders too. He's very important to the future of the game. As I'd highlighted in my preview, TV audiences across the pond are struggling and you have to wonder how damaging a run-away win in a US Open by a non-American could have been by someone less likable than Rory.

What have we learnt for next year?

Not a lot.

The result of this year's US Open will offer up more pointers for future A T & T Nationals at Congressional than it will for future US Opens. The rain that fell before the off and during the event meant that it was never going to be the stern test the USGA would have wanted.

Around level par is usually the winning score at any US Open and even if you take out Rory's remarkable achievement, the scoring was unusually good for this major. A total of 20 players finished under-par.

This week's events both have quality fields - the BMW International Open 2011 in Germany and the Travelers Championship in Connecticut. I'll preview both on Wednesday.

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