The Rory Era Is in Full Swing After Being Named PGA Player of the Year

It's been the year of Rory McIlroy for quite some time, but now it's been made official.

On Tuesday, McIlroy was named the 2014 PGA Player of the Year, marking the second time in the last three years that he's won the award. 

If you've been in denial that the Rory era is here, perhaps that will be enough to change your mind.

After all, Tiger Woods first won the award in 1997 and has won it 10 times since, including last year. But since Woods first began dominating, McIlroy is the only other player to win the award twice. 

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The Northern Irishman's win comes as no surprise to anyone who has been paying the least bit of attention to golf this season—he won the British Open, the PGA Championship and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in less than a month and is the No. 1 golfer in the world. It's not rocket science.

Even Billy Horschel, who beat out McIlroy to win the FedEx Cup after winning the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship to close the playoffs, knew McIlroy had the award in the bag, as reported by Jason Sobel of Golf Channel:

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He won two majors and three big events back-to-back. In my mind, he’s the Player of the Year. I don’t think there’s anyone who comes close. You look at what Rory McIlroy has done the last six months, ever since May … he’s just been on one hell of a stretch. In my mind, he’s the Player of the Year.

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Horschel is right. While most people focus on McIlroy's magnificent month in which he doubled his major tally, the truth is that his entire year has been solid. His only missed cut wasn't even at a PGA event, and he had 12 top-10 finishes and six top-five finishes in total. He also led the money list with a cool $8,280,096.

Additionally, McIlroy tied Jimmy Walker with the most PGA Tour wins this year (three) and had the lowest adjusted score per round, earning him the Vardon Trophy for 2014 as well. He looked pretty much unstoppable on the golf course this year.

The PGA Player of the Year award is calculated by a points system, and, according to the numbers, nobody else was even in the same league as McIlroy. Ryan Lavner of the Golf Central Blog breaks down how McIlroy went about earning the award: 

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After winning three consecutive events during the summer, including two majors, McIlroy earned 160 points to easily claim the organization’s top honor. Bubba Watson was a distant second with 62 points, while Martin Kaymer earned 52 points and Jimmy Walkerhad 46.

How McIlroy reached 160 points: 70 for three victories; 50 for two majors; 20 for leading the money list; 20 for winning the Vardon Trophy.

McIlroy’s adjusted scoring average of 68.82 in 66 rounds was slightly lower than Sergio Garcia’s mark of 68.95 (61 rounds).

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All in all, it was a pretty spectacular year, and the 25-year-old is probably not done receiving accolades yet. The PGA Tour Player of the Year award has yet to be voted on, but he'll likely win that as well—the PGA Player of the Year and the PGA Tour Player of the Year awards haven't gone to different golfers in the same year since 1991.

The craziest thing about all of this is that it feels so normal—it will be more alarming if we don't see McIlroy have many more years like this than if we do. He's not only poised for greatness; he's well on his way to achieving it.

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McIlroy has four major titles and two PGA Player of the Year wins already, and he's only 25 years old. Next April at Augusta, he will have a chance to win his career Grand Slam at the Masters. That's pretty incredible for a player who was apparently in a slump and on a decidedly downward trajectory this time last year.

Perhaps the most notable thing about McIlroy is the fact that he's far from satisfied. While he admitted it was a great season, he was frustrated about the way he finished things at the season-ending Tour Championship, where he tied for second. 

"I really wanted to win," he told reporters on Sunday. "I really wanted to cap this year off well, even though it's still been a great year. You know, I was coming in here with really high hopes and expectations, and I haven't quite been able to play the golf to live up to those."

McIlroy's game will always be defined by his aggression, meaning that his off days will probably be more disastrous than Tiger's were in his prime. But the upside is there, and we're going to be seeing a lot more of it as the years go by.

We don't need to actually see the passing of the baton. The old guard will still be out on the golf courses, battling for the big titles. They might even have a few wins left in them. But make no mistake about it: We're firmly in the midst of the McIlroy reign. You might as well get used to it—it's probably going to last for quite some time.