Champion McIlroy confident of handling pressure

The young Northern Irishman confirmed his status as golf’s most promising talent as he broke all sorts of records en route to his eight-stroke win.

The emphatic nature of his victory has drawn parallels with Tiger Woods, but with the spotlight set to intensify on the 22-year-old, especially with the Open less than a month away, he is confident of dealing with any extra pressure.

“With success comes expectation. I know expectations on me are pretty high now, but I expect big things of myself anyway,” he said. “As long as I keep committed and dedicated, I don’t see any reason why I won’t handle it (extra pressure) well.”

McIlroy, who was speaking at his home club of Holywood on the outskirts of Belfast, described his performance at Congressional as the best he has played.

“Last week was fabulous. The golf I played, I’ve never played before in my life,” he said.

“I always wanted to believe that I could win a major, but until you do, you never know. It feels great.”

McIlroy’s victory ensured Northern Ireland remained home to the US Open champion after Graeme McDowell’s success at Pebble Beach last year.

McIlroy admitted it was a fact he and his countryman were proud of, adding: “To think a European hadn’t won it for 40 years until Graeme did and now the two of us went back-to-back – it’s great.

“To grow up in tough conditions here, which there is at a US Open, helped us, I think.

“But I don’t think you can explain back-to-back US Open winners from a country with a population of 1.5m.”

Instead of wanting to play like Woods, everybody now wants to play like McIlroy – and that includes world No 3 Martin Kaymer on home turf this week.

Whereas McIlroy broke 70 in every round in winning the US Open by eight with a record score on Sunday, Kaymer failed to break 70 in any round and came 39th – 19 strokes in arrears.

McIlroy is on a three-week break before the Open at Sandwich but Kaymer has gone straight from Washington to Munich for the BMW International Open starting today.

The 26-year-old, who in 2008 became the first German to win the event in its 22-year history, is part of an all-Europe top four in the world.

That has not happened for almost 20 years and he said: “I think it’s something to do with the Europeans playing worldwide and becoming more complete players.

“We travel a lot and experience everything. Watching Rory made me want to practise more – it’s inspirational.”

The Yorkshire quartet of Simon Dyson, Richard Finch, John Parry and Danny Willett contest the BMW International, with the first three still battling to qualify for the Open at Royal St George’s next month.

Dyson is 22nd on the Race to Dubai standings and could qualify for the Open over the next three tournaments as one of the two highest-ranked players not already exempt.

Tiger Woods is out of another tournament through injury – and whether he makes the Open his first event for over two months now remains to be seen.

Bothered by knee and Achilles problems since the Masters in April, the former world No 1 has been advised to continue his lay-off rather than play next week’s AT&T National in Pennsylvania.