In the post-Tiger Woods era, Rory McIlroy is the lion golf needs

Rory McIlroy celebrates his second Masters win. Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images Share full article4AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy grew up an ocean away idolizing Tiger Woods, watching deep into the night as a 7-year-old when Tiger first won the Masters. The kid from Northern Ireland had the game and the charisma, so of course he had to be paired with his boyhood hero in a Nike TV ad — in fact, more than one. In a world where the concept of a Next Tiger was borderline absurd, someone still had to be next. Someone in sports always has to be next. McIlroy never seemed unnerved by the pressure of following the supernova that was Woods. Decades after Arnold Palmer brought the game to the masses, Tiger carried it into the modern age of media and technology and became one of the three or four most recognizable men on Earth. Woods had Arnie’s popularity and Jack Nicklaus’ power and poise. He became, arguably, the sport’s greatest and most important player of all time. McIlroy was picked to follow that. He was the chosen one, the face of the next generation in a sport that desperately needs stars to stay relevant. And Sunday evening, when he emerged from the Augusta National shadows as the Masters’ fourth repeat champion — and first since Woods nearly a quarter century ago — it was never clearer that Rory has been a worthy successor from tee to green, perhaps his greatest achievement of all. Purely in terms of performance, McIlroy is just as worthy a successor to Woods as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James were to Michael Jordan. This weekend delivered convincing evidence why. McIlroy set a 36-hole record at the Masters with a six-stroke lead, lost it for a time Saturday, lost it again Sunday, but regained it on the closing nine and held on for dear life. With a two-stroke lead on the 18th, the defending champ sailed his drive wide right into the trees, hooked his 8-iron shot high over the pines and into the bunker on the left, and blasted out into a safe two-putt position for the tap-in bogey that gave him his sixth major title. McIlroy threw back his head to the sky and let out a scream that was only half as primal and liberating as last year’s roar. Behind the green, his 5-year-old daughter, Poppy, slid under the ropes for a hug. His wife, Erica, was next, before McIlroy buried himself in the arms of his parents, Gerry and Rosie, who weren’t present for their son’s biggest victory last April. “It was a good thing you came,” Rory told them. Funny, but McIlroy had to plead with his parents to show up because they thought their absence was the reason he had a chance to repeat in the first place. The fans chanted Rory’s name, over and over, from the green to the scoring area, where Ryder Cup teammates Shane Lowry and Tommy Fleetwood were waiting to greet him. After Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley placed the green jacket over McIlroy’s shoulders, stepping in for the 2025 champion who was busy with 2026 champion responsibilities, Rory broke down and wiped tears from his eyes during the ceremony when thanking his parents for, well, everything. Rosie worked the night shift in a factory, and Gerry spent all day serving drinks and cleaning toilets for people who made more money than he did. Rory rarely spent time with both parents because at least one of them was always working. “We wanted to give our only child a chance,” Gerry once said. They gave him a chance to become one of — if not the — greatest European players ever. McIlroy is now climbing the ladder of historical greats, on the rise to who knows where. “It took me 10 years to win my fifth major,” McIlroy said, “and then my sixth one’s come pretty soon after it. I’m not putting a number on it, but I certainly don’t want to stop here.” Arnold Palmer and Harry Vardon are among the titans with seven majors. Tom Watson stands alone at eight. Gary Player and Ben Hogan are there at nine. McIlroy turns 37 in a few weeks. He has time, momentum and health on his side in his bid to become the first non-American to reach double figures. Rory has things he wants to achieve — a ton of them. He thought winning the Masters and completing the career Grand Slam last spring amounted to a mission accomplished. He found out quickly that he had thought wrong. “You think every time you achieve something or have success that you’ll be happy,” McIlroy said, “but then the goalposts move.” Now McIlroy is determined to move right with them. Once upon a time, little Rory won the under-10 world title at Doral and started talking trash. He told the Belfast News Letter that he wanted to make a living as a pro golfer and that he planned on winning The Open Championship. “I think Tiger’s just brilliant,” Rory said, “and I want to be as good as him someday, maybe even better.” Years later, his Uncle Brian told The New York Times Magazine that a 9-year-old Rory wrote a letter to Woods that essentially said, “I’m coming to get you. This is the beginning. Watch this space.” Asked by writer Charles Siebert to confirm the contents of the missive, a grown-up McIlroy said, “Yeah, it went something like that.” Rory’s bravado was always a sign of his immense belief in himself, not a true expectation of matching or surpassing Tiger’s career. Woods has won 15 majors (second to Nicklaus’s 18) and has 82 PGA Tour victories, sharing the record with Sam Snead. McIlroy is never touching those numbers. And that’s OK. By any measure, Rory has built a remarkable career for himself. He doesn’t have to apologize for a damn thing. He was playing with Old Tom Watson in 2009 and 2010, back when the eight-time major winner was saying of Rory, “He’s got a great future ahead of him.” And there was McIlroy on Thursday and Friday playing with 18-year-old U.S. Amateur winner Mason Howell, saying the same things about a high school senior. In turn, Howell was looking at McIlroy the way Rory used to look at Woods. “Watching Tiger here in 1997 do what he did,” McIlroy said, “and then winning his first green jacket, I think that inspired so many of my generation to want to emulate what he did.” Tiger and Rory ultimately became friends and fellow spokesmen for Nike. In one commercial, they stood side by side on the range trying to outdo each other with trick shots, and hitting balls that splash-landed in the drinks of guests at a distant wedding. In another, young Rory was watching Tiger in his living room, then hitting a plastic ball with a plastic club, then chipping real balls into the family dryer, and then walking off a tee box and down a fairway with Woods. The message was always clear. Rory is next. No one else. He eventually transformed his doughy body into a sculpted, Tiger-like cut, and won a bunch of tournaments, including four majors. The Masters was the missing piece … until it wasn’t. McIlroy won the green jacket again Sunday. Woods was not here this week, off seeking treatment after his latest DUI arrest. “I did want to come back here and prove last year wasn’t a fluke,” Rory said at his ceremony. Woods is surely proud of him all over again. Though they are good buds and partners in TGL, they will never be equals. Woods will always be the far superior performer on the golf course. But no, that doesn’t mean McIlroy wasn’t the right man to follow him. No champion could be more worthy as the face and voice of the post-Tiger generation in golf. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Ian O’Connor is a columnist for The Athletic. He is the author of six straight New York Times bestsellers. O’Connor was a columnist at various major outlets who earned multiple first-place finishes in contests run by the Society of Professional Journalists, Associated Press Sports Editors, Pro Football Writers of America, and Golf Writers Association of America. He is a proud former copy boy at The New York Times. Follow Ian on Twitter @Ian_OConnor