After Rory McIlroy on Sunday won the '12 PGA Championship for his second career major, golf's "Age of McIlroy may have finally begun,” according to Gary Van Sickle of GOLF.com. The sport “has been waiting for a new king ever since Tiger Woods assumed the throne with that Masters win for the ages in 1997.” For many fans and media, the "rush to judgment began last year when McIlroy romped past the U.S. Open field at Congressional.” But after the PGA Championship win, now comes "the dawn of a great opportunity for McIlroy, and he will fuel our golf conversations until we return to Augusta National next April” (GOLF.com, 8/12). In Boston, Ron Borges wrote, “Woods no longer is golf’s measuring stick. A 23-year-old from Northern Ireland is.” Golfer Padraig Harrington said, “Rory is showing that, with his A game, everybody else is going to struggle to compete with him.” He added, “Tiger needs his A game to come up against Rory. He’s not going to beat him unless he has a big weekend” (BOSTON HERALD, 8/13). In West Palm Beach, Greg Stoda wrote McIlroy is “now indisputably the face of the future of professional golf" (PALM BEACH POST, 8/13). ESPN’s Mike Greenberg said, “For all the people who have been casting Rory McIlroy in the role of he’s ‘the next one,’ ‘the next great one,’ ‘the next Tiger,’ he’s right on pace. He’s right on time” (“Mike and Mike in the Morning,” ESPN Radio, 8/13).
