Rory McIlroy Proves He's Perfect Ambassador for Golf at Tennis Match

The sport of golf has needed a young, marketable face since the fall from grace of Tiger Woods.

It looks like they've found their man in Rory McIlroy.

McIlroy recently overtook the top ranking in the sport with his win this weekend at the Honda Classic, so who could blame the man for goofing around with his hot girlfriend, tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, during her exhibition match against Maria Sharapova at the BNP Paribas Showdown?

You can check out McIlroy "winning" a point against Sharapova below.

McIlroy is the young, compelling golfer the sport really needs. He's half of the hottest young power couple in sports. He's genuinely fun to watch play.

And he already has a signature win after annihilating the field by eight strokes in last year's U.S. Open, finishing an incredible 16-under par.

The sport could use a young player with some charm, a sense of humor, a bit of personality off the greens. For as big of an icon as Tiger Woods was, he was always an icon in the Michael Jordan mold—dominant, fiercely intense and competitive, but somewhat inaccessible and larger than life.

Maybe its too early to determine McIlroy's persona, but he seems much more down to earth than that.

Alistair Tate of of Golfweek.com (via Huffington Post) put it well:

"

The difference between Woods as No. 1 and McIlroy at No. 1 is that it's doubtful if it will change the Northern Irishman the way it changed Woods.

McIlroy's most endearing quality is that he hasn't changed much since his amateur days. He is just as friendly and approachable now as he was when hardly anyone had heard of him. The same can't be said for Woods. McIlroy still says hello to me, still stops to chat just as he always did.

"

If that's how the new face of golf handles his business, well, the sport couldn't ask for a better young ambassador than that.

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