Rory McIlroy Wins the PGA Honda Classic and Becomes Golf's Number One

The mop-top, the accent, the charisma, the mania. No, I'm not talking about the Beatles. 22-year-old Northern Irish-Man-Child, Rory McIlroy is pretty good at this whole golf thing. With a Tiger on his tail, McIlroy stayed the course to win the 2012 Honda Classic capturing the nation's attention once again. He captured something else too. Yesterday, he was unofficially the best golfer in the world. Today it's legit.

Even with one of the greatest golfers of all time chasing him down on the final day shooting a 62, Rory was able to save himself on holes 15 and 17 with two pars instead of having to settle for bogeys.

What I love about McIlroy's game today was his ability to bring out the clutch gene. Nicholas had it, Tiger once personified it and now Rory is carrying the clutch torch into the next generation of greatness.

Rory only beat Tiger Woods by two strokes, but it might as well have been by 10. Psychologically, bearing down and not allowing a vintage Tiger Woods performance to outdo his four-day clinic will no doubt have McIlroy on an emotional high for quite some time.

Rory is the second youngest golfer to claim the world's coveted No. 1 ranking. The youngest ever is none other than Tiger. These two have become cosmically linked, golfers from two different worlds gravitating in each other's orbit from their transcendent levels of talent.

Watching Rory play however is different than viewing Woods even at his peak of dominance. There's a calm with McIlroy's game, a wide-eyed innocence of sorts, a calculating calm. Woods always had the demeanor of a linebacker and language of a drunken sailor even in victory. Rory maintains that even keel, a Bobby Jones-like concentration without ever getting too stressed about the moment.

Don't get me wrong, he's got a long way to go before he builds the resume Tiger has during his great runs. But, as a fan it's refreshing to see the way Rory is winning right now.

I think Tiger is going to be chasing for a while.