US Open Golf 2011: Just How Big Was Rory McIlroy's Congressional Win?

This week's US Open has drawn comparisons to what Tiger Woods did in 2000.

In terms of score, both raw shots and relation to par, Rory McIlroy just obliterated the US Open record. He didn't quite match Tiger in terms of margin of victory, but this was a dominant performance. That may be the understatement of the century, but there is nothing else that can really be said.

Regardless of what the world rankings may say, McIlroy is the best golfer in the world. He is the clear class of the young group of golfers that have taken over the golf world since Tiger's knee surgery in 2008.

The talent has always been obvious for McIlroy. We saw it for the first three rounds at Augusta and we saw it for three rounds of a few major championships before Augusta.

What we saw McIlroy do at Augusta on Sunday was painful. But as bad as that was, it's a mere memory now.

McIlroy has proven beyond all doubt that he is over that. You don't win a US Open in the way that he just did if you're still hung over from a prior failure.

So why was this win bigger than the first major for any golfer?

Well, again, McIlroy is the most talented golfer in the world, and now he has the mental advantage of calling himself a major champion. If you mix a lot of talent with a strong mental edge, you will get a dominant golfer for years to come.

Tiger can still come back strong when he eventually heals from his knee injury. It would be really foolish of anyone to dismiss the possibility that he could still break Jack Nicklaus' career major record. 

Still, even if he does, McIlroy is much younger than Tiger. Even beyond him, the new era is upon us.

The reigning champions of all four majors are younger than 30. Martin Kaymer, who is the second youngest of that group, will turn 27 at the end of the year. McIlroy just turned 22. He will be winning for a very long time.

If he had lost this tournament after the big 36-hole lead he had built, he would have been in danger of being one of the biggest wastes of talent in the history of the game.

Blowing that lead at the 2011 Masters only to come back and lose another big lead in the next major would have had a long-term impact. It also would have left people (most importantly, himself) questioning whether he would ever win anything again, let alone a major.

Now, that's not a doubt. McIlroy may not ever win as many majors as Woods, but he is this era's best player.

Did you like what you saw on Sunday? Did you like seeing McIlroy win and lift that US Open trophy? If you did, then keep watching golf, because you're going to be seeing an awful lot of that in the coming years.

Conversely, if you didn't like seeing him win, you should either make peace with it or find another sport to watch.

McIlroy didn't just put Augusta in his rear-view mirror. He turned his car around, ran that memory over, and buried it at the bottom of the ocean.

In doing so, he ushered in a brand-new era of golf. This win was just that big.

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