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Rory McIlroy sends clear message to rest of golf at Cadillac Match Play

By Mark Purdy
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Rory McIlroy sends clear message to rest of golf at Cadillac Match Play

 
SAN FRANCISCO – Perhaps you missed the memo. Perhaps you were otherwise occupied over the weekend with so many other sports. But while you were busy watching basketball or boxing or horse racing or baseball or lawn darts or whatever ... well, Rory McIlroy visited the Bay Area and sent a searing message.
 
This was the message, underlined and in bold letters: Right now in his game, there is Rory McIlroy. And then there is everybody else.
 
"I'm proud of myself for this," McIlroy said as he accepted the winning trophy on the final green of the WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship.
 
He should be proud, even if most casual fans won't appreciate exactly what he accomplished at damp and breezy Harding Park, owing to the distractions of the ridiculously clogged sports calendar.
 
For one thing, McIlroy continued his assault on golf history. He turned 26 years old Monday. Sunday was his 10th PGA Tour victory. Only two other men have earned 10 tour victories by age 26. Their names? Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
 
"Every time I have a win, I keep hearing those guys' names come up," McIlroy joked. "It's great to be mentioned with the likes of Tiger and Jack."
 
Expect further such mentions in the next few years.
 
Know why? McIlroy is the one current player who can consistently reach into his bag and pull out a club to hit a shot that can stun the masses. No one else is close. You certainly can't put Woods or Phil Mickelson in that discussion at this stage of their careers. 
 
Jordan Spieth, the 21-year-old Masters champion, was supposed to use last month's victory as a catapult to attack McIlroy's No. 1 world ranking. But what happened here at Harding? Over the tournament's first three days, Spieth stumbled and failed to qualify for the final 16-man bracket, exiting the premises on Friday night.
 
McIlroy is pulling away from Spieth and the rest of the golf universe, not retreating. That was made ever so clear over the past week before smallish but enthusiastic galleries.
 
Match play is the closest thing golf has to boxing or tennis. It pairs off golfers for a series of head-to-head confrontations over 18 holes or more. Winning the annual WGC match play title requires playing seven of those head-to-head duels over a span of five days.
 
"As a mental test, I don't think we face anything tougher," McIlroy said. "I think we face things just as tough in terms of majors. The U.S. Open gets really tough and the Masters is always a mental grind. But to play seven matches in five days is as tough as it's going to get for us."
 
To grind out those matches in the fashion McIlroy did is even tougher – and will be considered even more impressive in retrospect.
 
In three of McIlroy's seven victories at Harding, he walked the edge of defeat by falling behind on the scoreboard – and in fact, was trailing in all three as he stood on the 16th green. But each time, McIlroy rallied to a comeback victory, even if he needed extra holes to get the job done.
 
Sunday was the corker, as McIlroy unveiled a performance they'll talk about in match play circles for a long while. He awoke at 4:30 a.m. to tee off at 6:45 and complete a suspended-by-darkness quarterfinal victory over Paul Casey. A few hours later, McIlroy trailed savvy veteran Jim Furyk in the quarterfinals by one hole as they walked to the 17th tee.
 
Thus began the day's most staggering sequence.
 
First, McIlroy hit a sweet 7-iron into the par-3 green, made birdie and squared up the match. Next, at the 18th green, Furyk was waiting his turn at a birdie putt when McIlroy rolled in a 44-footer for an eagle three to clinch the match, as the crowd gasped and roared. Over the span of 15 minutes, McIlroy had effectively reversed a choke hold and pinned his opponent to the mat. Furyk is still waiting to hit that birdie putt. McIlroy just smiled as he walked off the green.
 
"I wish I didn't have to win it this way all the time," he joked, then took a brief break before going out to face Gary Woodland in the afternoon championship match.
 
Woodland, a game competitor ranked No. 52 in the world, had ridden a series of upsets to reach Sunday's finals. But he had no chance against McIlroy, who blew out to a big lead and cruised.
 
There was one brief moment on the back nine when Woodland appeared on the verge of making a charge. But he rimmed out a 4-foot putt on the 13th green that could have closed the gap to one hole. McIlroy smelled blood and finished off the job.
 
"When I missed that putt," Woodland said, "Rory definitely flipped a switch. He didn't miss a shot coming in after that. He was walking a little more quickly. You could tell ... You look at other guys that have dominated their sports, they have that gear. And Rory did it at the highest level today."
 
McIlroy said that in his display case at home, the Cadillac Match Play trophy will receive just slightly less prominent display than his four major championship trophies. He also planned to fill the trophy's bowl with some "alcoholic beverage" to celebrate his birthday. On Monday morning, as he does every Monday morning, he booted up the World Golf rankings and examined the state of his No. 1 ranking, which he has held since last August.
 
"I look to see how large my lead is, or hopefully what my lead is," McIlroy said. "But I don't need any wins or anything for validation ... I'm on my journey. I'll see where I get to."
 
On his trip to the Bay Area, he got to show us why he's the best – even if not all of us were paying close attention. That's what the best always do.
 
This article was written by Mark Purdy from Mercury News and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.