Rory McIlroy Wins 2011 U.S. Open, Sets All-Time Scoring Records

Rory McIlroy has won the 2011 U.S. Open, completing a weekend coronation earned with some of the most scintillating play golf has ever seen.

McIlroy fired a final round 69 to finish the U.S. Open at 16-under 268, shattering U.S Open records held by Tiger Woods for both score in relation to par and aggregate score at the end of a four-round decimation of Congressional Golf Club. McIlroy finished eight strokes ahead of Jason Day, whose 8-under was a better score in relation to par than every winning score since Jim Furyk’s in 2003.

McIlroy held the outright lead after each round, becoming the first wire-to-wire U.S. Open winner since 2002 and the first U.S. Open winner to shoot four rounds in the 60s since Lee Janzen in 1993.

And his play was so good throughout — McIlroy reached double digits under par just 26 holes into the tournament, and made just four bogeys or worse — that his massive lead made the typically dramatic U.S. Open weekend about as suspenseful as a leisurely pair of rounds at the local municipal course.

McIlroy has held the golf world’s attention before, after a catastrophic 80 in the final round of the 2011 Masters that left many wondering if McIlroy would ever be the same. Now, talk of McIlroy, who is, at 22, the youngest U.S. Open champion since World War II (his win bests Jack Nicklaus and raises the specter of Bobby Jones) will focus on his blindingly bright future. And it’s the golf world that may never be the same.

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