Rory McIlroy Wins 2011 U.S. Open

Rory McIlroy never let up. The 22-year-old Northern Irishman was crowned U.S. Open champion at Congressional Country Club Sunday. And he broke some records while he was at it.

McIlroy took the lead in the first round and didn’t give it back through the next 54 holes. The last player to lead every round of the Open was Tiger Woods, who won at Bethpage Black in 2002.

He scored in the 60s every round at the par 71 course. The last player to do that in the Open was Lee Janzen in 1993 at Baltusrol.

McIlroy broke the aggregate U.S. Open tournament scoring record with 268. The record was previously held by Jack Nicklaus (1980), Lee Janzen (1993), Tiger Woods (200) and Jim Furyk (2003), who all finished in 272 strokes.

And he broke the U.S. Open scoring record relative to par with 16-under. A record that was set by Tiger Woods in 2000 at Pebble where Woods shot 12-under-par.

McIlroy did not fall apart like he did in the Masters this past April. McIlroy started the final round there at 12-under-par and shot a disastrous 80 on the final day to fall to 4-under-par.

Sunday at Congressional McIlroy redeemed himself. It only took him one major tournament to stop the critics from saying he was the next Greg Norman, who notoriously lost several major tournaments on the last day. 

Some are saying he performed as well or better than Woods would have had Woods played the tournament. Others are even calling him the next Tiger. It’s too early to tell, but the performance McIlroy put on this week was spectacular even if he never wins another tournament.