Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods are on different routes to the U.S. Open

Rory McIlroy’s dominating play last week in Charlotte reminded a few folks of a certain formerly top-ranked golfer who was pretty good in his prime. But while Tiger Woods was doing good by raising money for his foundation at his annual Tiger Jam in Las Vegas, the world No. 1 was doing well by obliterating the field at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte.

“Tiger was the man. Rory is up there. He’s Tiger-like to me,” Will MacKenzie, who had a front-row seat to McIlroy’s course-record third-round 61, told Reuters on Saturday.

MacKenzie was not the only one in the golf community to compare Boy Wonder to the guy who regularly did to his competitors what McIlroy does to his when he’s in the zone. Observers noted McIlroy’s “Tiger-like” seven-shot margin of victory at Quail Hollow as well as his absolute supremacy in the game -- superlatives that sounded a lot like how pundits used to describe the way Woods played at his peak.

“Guys like Jordan Spieth and Rickie [Fowler] are totally awesome, but when this guy hits it, you know who’s hitting it,” MacKenzie noted, shooting down the notion that the newly crowned Masters and Players champions are ready to serve as McIlroy’s rivals. “The long ball is impressive but he’s got the touch to back it up. When this guy’s on, he just loads (on his backswing) better than everybody. He’s just stronger, a little more physically gifted.”

Not that such comparisons between the winner of 11 PGA Tour events and 79 have not been made before.

Remember his countryman Graeme McDowell calling McIlroy “the next Tiger Woods” when he destroyed the competition on his way to an eight-stroke victory at the 2011 U.S. Open? Similar comparisons were bruited about when he won the 2012 PGA Championship by the same number.

Though McIlroy complained -- after winning the WGC-Cadillac Match Play -- that he was tired of being compared to his Nike teammate, if Woods has any hope of breaking his seven-year majors drought at next month’s U.S. Open, perhaps the role model of yore could take a page from Rory’s playbook.

Consider this: Tiger has played just twice since returning from a two-month layoff to fix his short game and has just one upcoming pre-U.S. Open event on his calendar. In the meantime, Rory has two wins and four additional top-11 or better finishes since he missed the cut at the Honda Classic in February.

Upon closer examination, McIlroy, who is in the middle of five tournaments in five weeks, has a fourth-place finish, a win, T8 and another win in his last four starts. Woods has a MC (Phoenix Open), withdrawal (Famers Insurance Open), T17 (Masters) and T69 (The Playes Championship) in his most recent four contests.

With the wedge issues Woods had before he took a break in February, and the problems he has had with his driver since, it would seem to behoove the 14-time major champion to add more competitive reps to his calendar.

“His priority right now should be … his children, golf, golf and golf, in that order,” sportswriter John Feinstein said on Golf Channel on Friday at The Players Championship, where Tiger finished T69.

Certainly, the 2016 U.S. Ryder Cup captain would like to see Woods on the course more frequently.

“I’ve spent a lot of time talking to Tiger over the last six months -- more so than ever before -- and I’ve been pulling for him to get back playing,” Davis Love III told The Telegraph after Woods’ mostly successful Masters start. “I want him on the Presidents Cup team this year and the Ryder Cup team next year. If he can start driving it and putting it a little better, he’s right back in it.

“I’m hoping he’ll play a lot this summer,” Love added. “I know he’s focused on the majors, but those four tournaments are just so hard to pop in and play.”

Woods’ next -- and only -- scheduled start before the national championship will be at the Memorial on June 4. McIlroy, on the other hand, will play in next week’s BMW PGA Championship and the Irish Open on the European Tour, before returning stateside for the U.S. Open.

We’ll know soon enough if the jet-setting and round-after-round take a toll on the 26-year-old. So far, though, his busy schedule only seems to be making McIlroy stronger and more commanding.

Of course, even if Woods were to add next week’s Crowne Plaza Invitational, the AT&T Byron Nelson or the FedEx St. Jude Classic (the remaining pre-U.S. Open PGA Tour events) to his calendar, there’s certainly no guarantee he could overtake the streaking McIlroy, Spieth, Fowler or career grand slam candidate Phil Mickelson in his quest for that elusive 15th major. But it couldn’t hurt.

SB Nation presents: Urban golfing with Graeme McDowell