Rory McIlroy - A graduate of the school of hard knocks?

Like many British sports fans, I watched an entertaining Masters from Augusta over the course of last weekend with a particularly intense mixture of emotions. As the hope and excitement whipped up by precocious young Northern-Irishman Rory McIlroy faded into disappointment and desolation on a terrible Sunday, one wondered if the youngster had wasted the best opportunity of his fledlging career. Going in to his final round with an impressive four shot lead at twelve under-par, McIlroy suffered a disastrous collapse on the back nine on Sunday to finish at four under for the tournament - a truly gut-wrenching capitulation for such a young golfer. However, the point of this piece is not to badger McIlroy for his collapse, nor to hash over ground that has been so mercilessly analysed in an attempt to discover what went wrong, but it is instead to praise Rory McIlroy for the incredible character he has shown, perhaps even more impressive than his first three rounds at Augusta this weekend.

McIlroy's beginning to Masters weekend was truly ideal. An opening round of 65 set the tone for what was to come over the next two days. Some of the golf played by the youngster was sensational, as his spirited display gradually drew more and more praise from the following throng. Throughout the weekend McIlroy reiterated the need to remain calm and grounded as other fellow brits stuttered all over the famous course, Westwood and Poulter particularly failed to find any consistency to drive themselves forward. The emphasis on 'just playing the game' from McIlroy's camp was impressive from the very beginning, when young Rory was spotted playing some American football outside of his hotel. He was enjoying his golf, not feeling any weight of expectation and simply excelling in the relaxed climate.

Perhaps, then, McIlroy's age that can be pointed to as one of many contributing factors behind his collapse in the final round, where in three holes he triple-bogeyed, bogeyed and double-bogeyed. This is perhaps because, as many have found in the past, the game can become ery hard when there is expectation applied. McIlroy bogeyed the first hole, and from that point one could sense that disaster was never too far away. With more years under his belt, and with this heartening experience put behind him, McIlroy will be far better equipped should he be in a similar position in future, something he has said himself. One can only hope that in future he will be able to cope with the inevitable pressures that will come in the career of a player who shows such impressive talent.

A taster of this character has been shown by McIlroy so far this weekend in Malaysia. Instead of wallowing in the disappointment of his Masters failure, McIlroy has flown out of the traps and now leads the Malaysian Open by two shots (with a score of, you guessed it, 12 under-par). The ability to get in to this position shows tremendous grit and determination from the young Irishman, but now he simply must push on and finish the job. If he doesn't, it may be a fatal blow to his form over the next few tournaments. However, a victory in Kuala Lumpur will excorcise the ghosts of Augusta once and for all, just a week after they began to haunt him.