Rory McIlroy: A Name To Watch In The Coming Years

Rory McIlroy could not hold on to win his first European Tour event today at the European Masters in Switzerland.

McIlroy led the tournament for three straight days and began the final round with a four-stroke lead over the field.

McIlroy opened his round today by bogeying two of the first three holes but was still ahead by one stroke heading to the eighteenth hole where he missed a five-foot putt for the win.

On the second playoff hole McIlroy missed a one-footer to hand the win to Frenchman Jean-Francois Lucquin.

If you did not get a chance to watch any of the European Masters or had never heard of Rory McIlroy before you would most likely be thinking that this player just had a Michelson or Normanesque meltdown.

Sure, McIlroy missed some huge putts which could be very much attributed to the pressure situations he found himself in, but McIlroy is also only 19 years old. Had McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, won the European Masters today he would have been the third youngest player to ever win a European Tour Event and the youngest player to win since Seve Ballesteros.

The name Rory McIlroy first showed up on the radar screen at the 2007 British Open at Carnoustie.

McIlroy shot an opening round 68 which placed him in a tie for third place.

McIlroy comfortably made the cut at Carnoustie and won the Silver Medal for the lowest scoring amateur.

Not long after his shocking performance at the 2007 British Open, McIlroy decided to turn pro and fore-go the path that so many other talented young European players had taken before him; that being to attend an American college in a warm climate location and hone their skills further before moving onto the PGA or European Tours.

McIlroy was criticized for his decision as many believed he was too young and too inexperienced to turn pro and predicted that he would have a very tough time on the European Tour.

That prediction proved to be accurate as McIlroy has struggled all season on the European Tour up until this week's European Masters.

If you watch Rory McIlroy swing a golf club for only a few minutes you will quickly see why this young golfer has been touted as the next big thing to come out of Europe.

McIlroy displays a smooth, near flawless swing, not to mention he is incredibly accurate with his irons.

The one downside of McIlroy's game at the moment is his putting, particularly in pressure situations as we clearly witnessed in the European Masters.

But, at only 19 years old, McIlroy has plenty of time to improve upon his putting and gain more experience standing over big putts in pressure situations.

The free flowing and seemingly effortless swing of Rory McIlroy is something that cannot be easily taught.

At the age of 19, McIlroy has one of the smoothest golf swings this writer has ever seen.

Even though today's loss at the European Masters will strike a major blow to McIlroy's confidence, particularly after a very tough year on tour, he seems to be the type of player that can easily shoulder that blow and move on.

A player with McIlroy's natural talent is pretty rare in the game of golf so don't be surprised if you see the name Rory McIlroy on many PGA Tour leader boards in the coming years.