A new kid in town

By Al S. Mendoza

(From faraway Los Angeles, California, Kuya Leonie Galvez even found time to text me and say, Happy Father’s Day…Cheers!)

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LET’S go to golf, my game since 1985.

I used to play it daily, except Sunday, my Washington Day (I wash clothes, you know, if you know what I mean. A good exercise, as it prevents the onslaught of frozen shoulders.)

But all good things end.  And I would soon play golf only once a week. (Sunday as Washington Day has remained a chore, though, if not a hobby.)

Golf is, indeed, expensive.  Playing it everyday would really hurt your budget, especially if you employ a caddy while playing.

Golf would also tend to make you forget work.  You don’t work, you don’t eat.

So, I became practical.   I now play golf once a week – and only if I have the time and, yes, money.  Frankly, I can’t even play it once a week now.

Yes, I have the time almost all of the time as time has now become my slave since I retired in 2006.

It’s the money that I don’t have all of the time since I left the Inquirer five years back.

Jun Velasco, the poet masquerading as a columnist, knows that.  Gonz Duque, too, I guess.  Also Jess Garcia, the living legend of road race cycling, and Rene So of Toyota-Dagupan.

Anyway, let’s zero in on Rory McIlroy, the latest toast of world golf.

McIlroy has just won the US Open.

He is one month past 22 years, making him the youngest to win the US Open since Bobby Jones did it in 1923.

In winning, McIlroy also became the youngest winner of a major since Tiger Woods won the Masters in 1997 at age 21.

McIlroy’s 16-under-par total was also a record as it broke Tiger Woods’s 12-under when Tiger won the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach in California.

With McIlroy’s four sub-par rounds at Congressional Country Club at Bethesda, Maryland, he became one of only five winners to achieve that in the last 111 years of the US Open.

To cut the long story short, McIlroy’s performance in winning the US Open deserves a second look.

For one, he did it after his monumental collapse in April at the Masters, the first of four majors for the year, where he shot a horrendous 80 in the last round after being ahead after three rounds.

For another, he stumbled anew in his next tournament, seemingly not being able to deal with the Masters debacle that fast.

But his demons appeared to have been wiped out following his US Open victory, since his wire-to-wire finish attested to his flawless 72-hole mastery of the game. His 268 total was an all-time best in any major.

Now, they are saying a star is born.

Forget in the meantime Tiger Woods, who didn’t play in the last US Open to recover from his knee injury and an Achilles tendon.

Make way for the new kid in town.

So that McIlroy becomes, naturally, the top pick starting July 14 at the British Open, the third major of the year.

We should not miss watching that one on TV and see if McIlroy can handle prosperity.

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