Players Championship 2012: Rory McIlroy Will Never Be on Tiger Woods' Level

There was a moment in time where it looked like Rory McIlroy was talented, exciting and good enough to be the next Tiger Woods in the sport of golf. But that moment has come and gone.

It seems that ever since Tigers' epic fall from grace, all we have done is search for his replacement. When Tiger plays well, it's good for golf. When he plays badly, golf suffers. It's literally that simple. This is why we so desperately want and need somebody to step up and fill his shoes. The problem is, with 17 major victories under his belt, he's got some very big shoes to fill.

For a moment, though, it looked liked we had struck gold with McIlroy. That moment was the 2011 U.S Open.

I remember watching as McIlroy absolutely obliterated the field as he cruised to a 16-under-par win. His swing was magnificent, and he couldn't miss the hole once he got on the green. It was a magical thing to watch, and it was a performance that I'll remember for the rest of my life.

I'll also remember thinking to myself that I had witnessed the birth of a superstar in golf.

At least for the moment, it appears as if I was wrong.

While McIlroy is currently the world's No. 1-ranked golfer and there is no doubting that he's great, he doesn't appear to have that "it" factor that Tiger had in his prime.

Look no further than the fact that McIlroy couldn't even make the cut at the 2012 Players Championship for proof of that statement. In his prime, even Tiger couldn't win every tournament, but we always knew that once the weekend rolled around, we'd see him in his red Nike polo—usually winning. That's what made Tiger so good and so unique, I've now realized. He played at an extremely high level consistently, and that's something that McIlroy has failed to do.

It looked as if McIlory possessed what it takes, but it's now rather evident that he'll never be on Tiger's level.

Perhaps nobody ever will be.