KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C.—Brilliance does not back up. Brilliance cares not one whit about feeding the public need for drama and suspense. Brilliance is a lonely gift, one that separates itself as quickly and by as many miles as possible.
So, don't blame Rory McIlroy for transforming a potentially wild Sunday scramble at the PGA Championship into the Snore by the Shore.
He was simply being true to his calling of greatness.
McIlroy officially underscored his intentions to rule over all the world's golf-playing peoples with a second major championship at the age of 23. With a bogey-free, stress-free final round of 66 Sunday -- as perfect a round of golf as heaven allows -- he finished off a 13-under-par week and a record eight-stroke victory on Kiawah's Ocean Course.
He was a Sunday soloist, playing only against himself over the closing six holes. He bombed drives and made any putt inside the Eastern Time Zone, right to the end. McIlroy fashioned the perfect finishing statement, knocking his drive on the par-4 18th 350 yards downrange, hitting his approach to 20 feet then rolling that in when he could have just as well won by seven-putting with a frying pan. With the closing birdie, he eclipsed Jack Nicklaus' PGA Championship record seven-stroke margin in 1980.
It was a performance that ramped up the hyperbole and the inevitable comparisons to the previous owner of golf, especially among McIlroy's Irish countrymen.
"He is going to be the player that kids look up to, that kids measure their own wannabe games by," said Graeme McDowell. "Ten years ago it was Tiger Woods. It still is Tiger Woods to a certain extent, but now we've got superstars like Rory McIlroy for kids to be looking at.
"Great attitude, great charisma and great character -- that's pretty much it in a nutshell, he's great for the game."
Added Padraig Harrington, "Rory's is showing that with his A game, everybody else is going to struggle to compete with him."
McIlroy is the same age as was Woods when he collected a second major, but remains a distant dozen away from Tiger's current total. Playing it safe for the first time Sunday, McIlroy said, "I'd love to sit up here and tell you I'm going to do the same thing (as Woods), but I don't know."
Staying with real and tangible accomplishments, with Sunday's runaway, McIlroy:
• Jumped from No. 3 in the world rankings to No. 1.
• Eliminated the clutter that came with different players winning the past 16 majors. He is the first repeater over that span, doubling up on his 2011 U.S. Open title.
• Became the youngest PGA winner in the stroke-play era (since 1958), three months younger than Nicklaus when he won in 1963 at the age of 23-years, 6-months.
• Established himself as the preeminent closer in a game that has seen the 54-hole leader falter in 11 of the last 14 majors. McIlroy apparently learned well from his own collapse in the 2010 Masters (shooting 80 on Sunday, frittering a four-shot lead). Since then, he has finished off his two other opportunities with a cold-bloodedness that could have made the alligators here leave their ponds, stand upright and applaud.
There has been no such thing as a nail-biting victory for McIlroy in the majors. He won the 2011 Open similarly by eight strokes. "I would like to win like this all the time, but I'm sure it's not going to happen," McIlroy said through a crooked smile.
McIlroy had begun the world-beating golf Saturday, until rain cut him short after nine holes. At the resumption of play Sunday morning, McIlroy and Vijay Singh were tied atop the leaderboard at 6-under. By the completion of the third round, McIlroy, going 3-under on the back nine, had a three shot cushion.
Carl Pettersson was in second at the start of the fourth round, but was finished early when, in essence, he got the death penalty for jaywalking. Hitting his approach shot on No. 1 from inside the hazard line, he disturbed a leaf on his backswing and after a prolonged review was assessed a two-stroke penalty.
Dressed up in all white from visor to spikes, Ian Poulter looked like the Good Humor Man but momentarily played like Hogan. He opened his fourth round with six birdies over his first seven holes, pulled to within two strokes of McIlroy on a couple occasions, but then fell away, exhausted in the chase of perfection.
Winning multiple majors, McIlroy allowed is something "not many people have done and, yeah, I'm very privileged to join an elite list of names."
He left no one with the impression, though, that two majors would fill him up. He was the first to mention a springtime appointment in Augusta.
"I'm looking forward to April next year and getting a crack at another one," he said.
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