- ESPN Sports Personality of the Year - No. 9
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Rory McIlroy: A global star is born
Alex Dimond December 15, 2011
Rory McIlroy had the US Open gallery under his spell like no-one since Tiger Woods
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The past 12 months of the sporting calendar have thrown up a plethora of memorable performances, including a near-invincible tennis star, a globally-loved golfing success story, and a footballing magician who seems only to need one foot. Leading up to Christmas, ESPN will name its top 10 sports personalities of the year in ascending order...
The true meaning of 2011 for Rory McIlroy might not become evident until the Northern Irishman reaches the end of his career.
Will it prove just the start of an outstanding spell as the post-Tiger Woods superstar golf has been crying out for, or the year he reached the peak of a career that promised much more?
Only time will tell, but it certainly seems that the former is the more likely.
McIlroy's starring moment came at Congressional in June, when he ran away with the US Open by eight shots. If it's possible, the victory margin barely did justice to the all-round domination of his performance - McIlroy drove the ball straighter and further than any other competitor, hit his approach shots closer to the pin and holed out with the putter with more authority.
In short, he was utterly dominant.
Even that, however, doesn't underline how good his victory was in the context. For that you have to rewind two months, to the opening major of the year at Augusta National. McIlroy entered the final round of The Masters with a four-shot lead thanks to a similar dominant performance, with scribes already falling over themselves to anoint him golf's chosen one. Unfortunately, they hadn't seen the plot-twist waiting around the final corner.
McIlroy's demise was hardly of Greg Norman proportions but it was still painful to watch, as a duck hook off the 10th tee quickly saw the green jacket wrested from his grasp. An escape from someone's front garden was embarrassing, but it was an ill-advised attempt to reach the green with his third shot from 250 yards and the subsequent quadruple bogey that followed that ended his challenge.
Perhaps understandably he quickly lost his head completely, missing foot-long putts on subsequent greens as he saw Charl Schwartzel finish strongly to steal his prize while the ground steadfastly refused to open up and swallow him.
Considering that trauma, the fact he managed to storm round Congressional became even more impressive. Again on the tenth hole in the final round of a major championship, this time McIlroy fired a tee shot over the water to the green at the par-three that landed just past the pin and almost rolled back into it. It is little exaggeration to suggest that a gallery has not reacted to a shot with such fervour (outside of a Ryder Cup) since Woods was waltzing away with things in Georgia back in 1997.
After Congressional, however, there was the come-down - on the course, if not off it. A celebrity overnight, McIlroy rightfully enjoyed all the adulation that was sent in his direction. But his golf suffered as a result - with what was supposed to be a joyous homecoming at the Open Championship overshadowed by bad weather, misfortune with the draw and a curious complaint about not enjoying links golf. It was to be symptomatic of a general drop in form that would affect his game for a number of months, with a spat with an on-course commentator at the Irish Open another sore point.
Rory McIlroy with the US Open trophy
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A second successive disappointment at a major championship, as McIlroy scuppered his chances at the US PGA Championship with a mistake of his own (and his caddie's) doing. Only on the third hole of the tournament, but with his ball trapped against a tree root, McIlroy made the almost indefensible decision to go for the green with a full shot. A sprained wrist was the inevitable outcome, an injury he battled valiantly against but nevertheless rendered him a complete also-ran as Keegan Bradley asserted his case to be the United States' answer to golf's next young star.
There was other drama off the course, with McIlroy gaining headlines for non-golf related reasons that perhaps only emphasised his new status as a celebrity. His decision to split up with his childhood sweetheart became more intriguing when he almost immediately began seeing world No. 1 women's tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, while his shock choice to leave Chubby Chandler's successful ISM agency to join friend Graeme McDowell at the much smaller (and resolutely Irish) Horizon led to unwelcome speculation about everything from his prima donna demands to his failing relationship with former ISM stable-mate Lee Westwood.
The latter part of the year, however, saw him regain his rhythm on the course - with a fit again McIlroy picking up his fourth and fifth professional victories at the Shanghai Masters and Hong Kong Open. The second of those enabled him to enter the European Tour's season-ending Dubai Championship with the chance to pip Luke Donald to the Race to Dubai.
That he was not quite able to do - the exertions of the year finally catching up with him - but it nevertheless underlined the quality of his season, one where he elevated himself from rising star with major ambitions, to genuine world star who can win on any given week.
Donald has starred with his consistency this year, while Darren Clarke's win at the Open was perhaps the sentimentalist's favourite golfing moment. McIlroy's season might not have been the most consistent overall, but that win at Congressional alone might just be what we remember about 2011 in years to come.
And it could be just the start for the Holywood star.
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Alex Dimond
Alex Dimond is an assistant editor of ESPN.co.uk
