Masters Odds 2012: Rory McIlroy Won't Be Held Back by Last Year's Meltdown

Most golfers—heck, most people—would be hard-pressed to recover from a Sunday collapse at the Masters. Most would be left with scars that even time would struggle to close up.

But Rory McIlroy isn't most golfers, or most people. His triple bogey on the 10th hole at Augusta National and the choke job precipitated aren't so much ghosts that haunt him as mistakes from which he's learned, failures from which he's grown.

That would seem to have been the case, in light of his dominant performance at Congressional to capture the 2011 US Open shortly thereafter.

Of course, he didn't exactly follow that one up with anything resembling a rousing success at either the British Open or the PGA Championship, at which he finished tied for 25th and tied for 64th, respectively.

Then again, his uneven play in Major championships hasn't hindered his pursuit of the top spot in the World Golf Rankings. He briefly scaled that mountain last month, after fending off Tiger Woods at the Honda Classic, until Luke Donald reclaimed the perch with a win at the Transitions Championship.

McIlroy's game remains in transition somewhat. He's already been anointed the "Next Big Thing" in golf, though he's still sitting on six career wins worldwide.

An excellent total for a 22-year-old, to be sure, though the very mention of his age should be reason enough to withhold all the semi-messianic mumbo jumbo. His game is still a work-in-progress, as great as he already is.

It's tough to fault those who would jump to conclusions for making a mountain out of the molehill on which McIlroy currently stands. After all, Tiger isn't quite Tiger anymore, and until Woods returns to form (if he ever does), the search for a new savior to dominate the field and make golf relevant beyond the hedges of the nation's country clubs will continue.

Rory seems to fit the profile well enough. He's young, affable, charismatic and full of potential. What's more, unlike Tiger, he doesn't seem to mind living life in the public eye, popping up wherever his tennis star girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki may roam.

If Rory wins at Augusta (which he very well might), he'll have all the more reason to smile while feeding into a narrative in which so many young golfers before have tried (and failed) to play a significant part.  

That way, we'll know much better which of his most memorable Major performances was the fluke and which was closer to the truth.

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