McIlroy’s major brilliance there for all to see

As immaculate a performance as one could imagine in an Open gave the 25-year-old Ulsterman his third major title, and perhaps most importantly, his greatest.

The US Open and the US PGA Championship are illustrious titles, and the manner in which McIlroy won them three and two years ago respectively – each by eight shots – underlined his prodigious talent.

But the Open Championship is another step up entirely.

It is the oldest of the game’s big four and therefore steeped in more tradition than the others.

Being broadcast on terrestrial television – unlike his first two which were not – ensured his dominance and his sublime skills displayed at Hoylake were beamed into living rooms across the length and breadth of Great Britain.

McIlroy has made new fans all over the country.

He is the star of Britain’s sporting summer, succeeding where Andy Murray, Chris Froome and the national teams in football, rugby union and cricket could not.

His exploits at Hoylake transcended golf.

The superstar in waiting has come of age.

McIlroy’s wire-to-wire victory had all the hallmarks of Tiger Woods in his pomp at the turn of the century, racing ahead in the early days of the tournament and then keeping his opponents at arm’s length as he eventually coasted to victory.

There were jittery moments – there are always going to be over 72 holes on a championship course that punished the slightest mistake – like the back-to-back bogeys on the fifth and sixth yesterday that allowed Sergio Garcia to pull to within two shots.

But he never gave Garcia, Rickie Fowler or the rest anything more than a glimmer of hope.

McIlroy never panicked and as the holes wore on and the chasing pack were forced to accelerate their pursuit, and risk getting cut adrift further, McIlroy remained calm.

His long game all week was devastating; he was unerringly accurate when his driver was in his hands.

His short game, likewise, lived up to the pressure.

And his prodigious talent was fulfilled on the greatest stage.

The question that comes now is, how many more?

Are the 14 majors of Tiger Woods within sight for McIlroy?

Woods had six by the same age but has stalled dramatically in his quest to overhaul Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18. Nicklaus, himself, had claimed four by the age of 25.

One statistic McIlroy has penned sees him join Nicklaus and Woods as the only two men to earn three legs of the career grand slam after just a quarter of a century.

This is the company McIlroy now keeps.

His ability, record and promise mark him out as a name mentionable in the same breath as Woods and Nicklaus.

In winning the Open he has done what no one in the European game has done before – not even the great, boundary-breaking Seve Ballesteros or Sir Nick Faldo – by winning three of the four majors on offer.

Martin Kaymer, whose 
US Open triumph last month was his second major, might represent McIlroy’s biggest challenge for European and world domination.

The unnerving aspect of both those wins should send ripples of fear through the rest of golf, as both were wire-to-wire victories, with Kaymer and McIlroy leading from Thursday to Sunday.

Such dominance might suggest the two great championships were boring processions, but the Open at Hoylake was certainly never tiresome.

McIlroy was pursued to the very last hole by Garcia and Fowler, whose performances yesterday should not be under-played.

Normally those giving chase push too far and end up with their hopes in tatters, either in a blur of sand from a greenside bunker, or with a tangled club in the highest rough.

But the Spaniard and the American kept McIlroy honest from the very first tee shot yesterday. His six-shot lead at the start of the day, that he stretched to seven with a birdie on the first, never looked completely safe.

Garcia shot five birdies, an eagle and one bogey in a six-under-par round of 66.

Fowler, who has now finished second in the last two majors and fifth at the Masters, was bogey-free as he fired five birdies in a 67.

Both appear major champions in waiting.

With Fowler there is almost the sense that such an outcome is inevitable, as it was with McIlroy, even after that collapse at the 2011 Masters three years and three months ago, when it looked for all the world that the Ulsterman did not have the bottle to win majors.

How laughable that looks now as the green jacket is the only one missing from McIlroy’s collection.

Garcia is getting on in years but he is a tenacious competitor who showed this week that he has the mental strength and the game to hold up under the most intense pressure.

This was his fourth major championship runner-up finish, but he did not lose the Open this week, neither did Fowler.

They were beaten by the better man, as were each of the 156 men in the Open field.

At the age of 25, McIlroy has proven he has the game for all occasions.

He has shown once again that he has the front-running ability of Woods.

The Northern Irishman has broken records, set new landmarks and in triumphing so convincingly at Royal Liverpool, confirmed once and for all his potential to join the exclusive club of golf’s greatest champions.