Golf rivals declare Rory is the new Tiger

BETHESDA – Rory McIlroy is on pace to be the new Tiger Woods, even if he has not yet won a major title, according to golfers who have been humbled this week by the 22-year-old Ulsterman at the US Open.

McIlroy fired a three-under par 68 on Saturday to stand on an unprecedented 14-under par 199 after 54 holes, eight strokes ahead of second-place South Korean Yang Yong-Eun and on his way to immortality according to some rivals.

“He’s potentially the next Tiger Woods,” defending champion Graeme McDowell said of his compatriot. “You run out of superlatives to describe what he’s doing this week. He’s decimating a field. It’s just phenomenal.”

Woods, a 14-time major winner chasing the all-time record of 18 won by Jack Nicklaus, is absent this week due to a left leg injury. He has not won in 20 months since his infamous sex scandal and last won a major at the 2008 US Open.

But Ireland’s Padraig Harrington likes McIlroy’s chances of being the one to pass Nicklaus.

“If you’re going to talk about someone challenging Jack’s record, he’s your man,” Harrington said. “When you are winning majors at 22, with his talent, and he’s got 20-something more years to play majors, and another 100 majors in him, I would give him a great chance to catch Jack.”

Such praise has not sent McIlroy’s head spinning. In fact, he was shaking his head when hearing of Harrington’s remark.

“Oh Paddy, Paddy, Paddy,” McIlroy said. “I’m still looking for my first one. That’s all I can say. I’ve put myself in a great position to do that tomorrow, and then we’ll see what happens from there.

“It’s nice to have all these complimentary things said about you, but until you actually do these things, they don’t mean anything.”

McIlroy has flirted with majors before, opening last year’s British Open on 63 before winds rose and blew away his dream with a second-round 80. In April, McIlroy led the Masters by four shots starting the last round but fired another 80, cracking under the pressure.

But he has shown no sign of that this week at Congressional Country Club.

“The way he’s playing out there, it’s almost Tiger-esque,” said third-place Jason Day of Australia. “It’s unbelievable how good he’s playing.”

“Will he achieve what Tiger was doing around 2000 (four major wins in a row), 15 major championships or whatever he’s got?” McDowell asked. “Can he be that good? Yeah, potentially. He’s got that potential. He’s that good.”

Even those who do not see him as the next coming of Woods talk about his winning this US Open as a foregone conclusion, like US veteran Davis Love, who declared him “one swing away” from a Masters win before a triple bogey at 10.

“I doubt there will be another Tiger Woods,” Love said. “We’ll see. He’s only won one yet.”

Even Yang holds out little hope of overtaking McIlroy on Sunday, and he is the only man to rally from behind to defeat Woods when Woods led a major after 54 holes, doing so at the 2009 PGA Championship to become Asia’s first major champion.

“I think it’s actually a race for second place right now,” Yang said. “I’ll try and catch up with Rory as much as possible, but if he doesn’t let go, it’s going to be a race for second place.”

US Golf Association executive director Mike Davis, the US Open course set-up man, was asked about “Rory-proofing” the course since McIlroy has reached record-low scoring levels.

“We’re not quite there yet,” he said.

But England’s Lee Westwood, the World No. 2 who is with Day nine shots adrift, says that time might be coming soon.

“Rory is a good player. When he plays well, he’s capable of shooting low scores,” Westwood said. “If they make the golf courses longer, it will be 8,000 yards next year. We will have Rory to thank for that.”