Rory McIlroy reaffirms his place as No.1 in the world on his 26th birthday

Rory McIlroy turned 26 on Monday, with much to celebrate after knocking off all challengers on a tough journey to the finals followed by a cakewalk to the WGC-Cadillac Match Play title. As the birthday boy heads to this week’s Players Championship on top of the world and looking for some more bling to add to his collection, we offer some musings about Boy Wonder.

Birthday bash. McIlroy, who commemorated his first grand slam event, the 2011 U.S. Open, with his father, planned a similar fest after knocking off Gary Woodland, 4 and 2, in a match that was not nearly as close as the score. He planned to spend Monday at home with his folks and would partake of a weekly ritual as well.

“Every Monday morning I go onto the website and look at what my lead is,” he said about checking the Official World Golf Rankings, where he holds a 3.57-point average advantage over No. 2 Jordan Spieth. “Tomorrow will be the same. It’s nice to be in that position.”

It’s Rory’s planet and Jordan Spieth’s just a satellite in his universe. Spieth’s Masters win caused observers to crown the 21-year-old the next Tiger Woods and/or Rory McIlroy and stoked fantasies about a burgeoning rivalry with the world No. 1.

There’s no argument about the significance of Spieth’s record-breaking, wire-to-wire Augusta triumph, and he and McIlroy may well turn out to be another Arnie-Jack or Tiger-fill in the blank, but let’s pump the brakes on that runaway cable car for just a moment. Even Spieth sought to quell the over-the-top anticipation about a potential Rory-Jordan shootout in San Francisco and beyond.

“He’s got four majors. That’s something I can still only dream about,” Heir Jordan, with three PGA Tour Ws to McIlroy’s 10, said after winning the Masters and before being bounced from Harding Park by Lee Westwood on Friday. “I’ll never hit it as far as he does and I have to make up for that somewhere else … I don’t know, as far as a rivalry right now, look forward to getting in the heat of the moment with him a couple times in the near future and see if we can battle it out and test our games.”

Good plan.

McIlroy roars into The Players with the ferocity of a tiger. After rebounding from deficits all week, McIlroy came thundering back. Billy Horschel was on his way to a huge upset, two up with two to play, before Rory birdied the final holes in regulation and put Billy Ho in the rearview on the first extra frame. Same for Paul Casey in the quarterfinals (Rory was one down with two to play and won on the 22nd hole) and Jim Furyk in the semis (one down with two to play and went birdie-eagle to win on the 18th).

And then he just punished Woodland in Sunday’s winner-take-all championship bout.

“It gives me some momentum,” McIlroy said after prevailing on Sunday. “I feel like the confidence has been there. I feel like my game is very close, even at the Masters. But to get a win is huge, especially in this stretch, to get a win before the U.S. [Open]. It would be nice to win a stroke play event leading into that, I’ve got a few more chances before I get to Chambers Bay.”

Speaking of bouts … McIlroy eschewed The Fight to be in fighting form for the one hole that it took to advance over an under-the-weather Casey to the semifinals on Sunday morning.

“Went to bed at 10:30. Woke up at 4:30,” McIlroy said after watching the Pacquiao-Mayweather tilt in the Harding Park media room. “So that’s six hours sleep, which is pretty good. I felt like that was ‑‑ I’ll sleep better tonight, I think.”

Jack, Tiger and Rory. No, they didn’t all walk into a bar, but, like the legends before him, McIlroy will likely never have to buy another drink in his life. It seems that with each victory, Rory joins Nicklaus and Woods in the history books, but please stop with the “Rory is the next Tiger” comparisons. Yes, McIlroy is now just the second top-ranked golfer to win a Match Play championship (after Tiger) and the third to win 10 PGA Tour titles before he turned 26 (after Woods and Nicklaus), but the man himself sought to temper expectations after last week’s marathon.

“Every time I have a win, I keep hearing those guys’ names come up. It’s great to be mentioned with the likes of Tiger and Jack, the two greatest players that I think have ever played this game,” he said. “I’m on my journey, I’ll see where I get to. But right now I’m really happy with my 10th win. And I’m going to go after my 11th next week at TPC.”

Rory’s on top of the world rankings but it’s still Tiger’s world. With Woods truly back in action after a successful comeback at the Masters, five more tourneys on his 2015 calendar -- and joining McIlroy/Wozniacki and an impressive roster of former elite power couples who are no more -- Tiger remains, as always, The Story this week.