2014 saw Rory McIlroy usurp Tiger Woods as the man to
beat
Rory McIlroy dominated golf in 2014, winning
two majors, recapturing the world number one spot and starring in Europe’s
latest Ryder Cup triumph.
Not since Tiger Woods was at his best from
2000 to 2006 has one player been so commanding and, by the time the season was over,
there was no more debate over who is the best golfer in the world.
McIlroy’s year started slowly enough
following a poor 2013 but, following the break-up of his relationship with
tennis player Caroline Wozniacki in late May, McIlroy returned to his very
best.
The vital spark was his win that very same
week from seven shots back in the European Tour’s PGA Championship at
Wentworth.
The summer brought back-to-back majors, his
third and fourth, at the British Open at Hoylake and USPGA at Valhalla.
Those saw him climb above Adam Scott and
Henrik Stenson atop the world rankings and, by the time the dust had settled,
McIlroy was the undisputed kingpin. He was the first UK player to win
consecutive majors and the third youngest player of the modern era — after
Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus — to win four majors.
The prospects for 2015 are mouth-watering if
he can keep this rich run of form going.
A win in April at The Masters would set him
up for a crack at four-in-a-row at the US Open in June, and the possibility of
emulating Woods’ fabled run in 2000-01 (Woods completed his slam at the
Masters).
McIlroy firmly believes that he is coming
into his prime.
“I’m 25, and I think I’ve got another 10 to
15-year window of playing great golf and winning big tournaments and I’m going
to do everything I can to be as successful as I can,” he said in Sydney
recently ahead of the Australian Open.
Whether he wins at Augusta National or not,
golf’s landscape — cloaked around Woods for the last 15 years — has certainly
changed.
Rising American star Jordan Spieth summed up
the new horizon nicely after winning back-to-back titles in Australia and
Florida in December.
“To take it to the next level, to win a
major, I’ve got to look to Rory,” Spieth said. “He’s the one we’re all chasing.
I did a good job of beginning that chase the past couple weeks.
“I understand that when I’m out here and I’m
one of the young guys, people want to see somebody come up and do what Tiger
did and change a generation of golf. But right now I look at number one in the
world Rory McIlroy, what he did this year, and I’m trying to chase him more
than I am anything else.”
McIlroy apart, there were big wins in 2015
for Bubba Watson, lifting his second Masters title in three years at Augusta in
April, and for Martin Kaymer, who confirmed his return to form with a
wire-to-wire win in the US Open in June.
Woods, meanwhile, struggled with injuries
throughout the year, raising more question marks over whether — at 39 — he will
ever return to the levels that made him the biggest name in sport.
Back surgery in March and a new coach in the
shape of Chris Como in November are the fixes he has employed, but if his
last-place finish on his return to action in Florida this month are anything to
go by, he still has a long way to go.
On the plus side, he has the Masters at
Augusta and the British Open at St Andrews — two fabled courses where he has
won six of his 14 major titles — to whet his appetite.
“I’ve been hurt. I’ve been out of it for a
long time. I’ve had to make my run to get back there,” Woods said. “It takes
winning... it’s a process to get back to that level. You’ve got to build up to
it. I’ve got some time.”
Woods of course was absent in late September
when Paul McGinley’s Europe — with McIlroy to the fore — once again put the
United States to the sword in the Ryder Cup in Scotland.
The 16.5 to 11.5 defeat was the sixth in the
last seven editions of the competition for the Americans and it was an
especially bitter blow for golfing legend Tom Watson, whose captaincy came in
for the most scathing of criticisms, notably from leading player Phil
Mickelson.
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