After being denied victory in his last 6 major championships, the 25-year-old Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy is back in major championship glory.

Through almost flawless execution he captured the prestigious Open Championship at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club in England. With a cumulative score of 17 under par McIlroy won his 3rd major championship adding to his US Open triumph in 2011 and PGA Championship win in 2012.

He becomes the 3rd youngest man in history next to Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus to win 3 major championships. With a future win at the Masters Tournament he will complete golf'€™s major Grand Slam, a feat no active player besides Woods has achieved.

Woods for his part finished in 69th place at 6 over par. The youthful McIlroy is never short of surprises. During his acceptance speech after his victory, he startled the Liverpool faithful by declaring he was a Manchester United fan.

Needless to say, this was not exactly greeted by applause from the thousands in attendance.

After his recent and well-publicized breakup from his fiancée and tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, McIlroy said, '€œI'€™ve sort of fallen in love with golf again.'€

Golf was quick to return the favor to Rory in Liverpool. He took the lead after the 1st round, shooting a spectacular six under par 66 (par 72) in calm conditions and was 1 stroke better than the young Italian Matteo Manassero, who posted a 67.

With pinpoint precision, it was once again the '€œRory Show'€ in round 2 as he distanced himself from the field by shooting another famous 66 to go to 12 under for the event. He was now 4 strokes ahead of the 2nd placed American Dustin Johnson even after Dustin'€™s sensational 65.

'€œI feel like I just have an inner peace on the golf course,'€ McIlroy said, '€œI'€™m very comfortable in this position. I'€™m very comfortable doing what I'€™m doing right now. It'€™s hard to describe.'€

Rory took his comfort to another level during the 3rd round to post a solid 68 and get to 16 under par for the event stretching his lead even further to 6 giant strokes.

The American Rickie Fowler was in 2nd place at 10 under par after registering a 4 under par 68 of his own in round 3.

Rory was asked if he thought the tournament was over going into the final round considering his 6 stroke lead.

A more than cautious McIlroy responded, '€œI'€™ve won from seven back this year, so I know how leads can go very quickly. And I'€™m not taking anything for granted.'€

McIlroy held off the surging Spaniard Sergio Garcia in the final round and at one point Rory was only 2 strokes ahead of him. Both Fowler and Garcia continued to play well but fell just short and finished at 15 under par, 2 strokes back to tie for 2nd place.

'€œI think both Rickie and I, I think we tried to push him as hard as we could, there was someone a little bit better,'€ Garcia said

The 25-year-old Fowler has remarkably finished 2nd in two consecutive major championships.

After his win Rory was asked about the hunger and motivation within him to win more major championships to which he said, '€œEven though there'€™s still one major [the PGA Championship] left this year that I want to desperately try and win, I'€™m looking forward to next April [the Masters] and trying to complete the career Grand Slam.'€ Since the historic Claret Jug trophy will be in Rory'€™s possession for a year as the Open champion he was asked what he would store in it.

'€œSeeing it'€™s the Claret Jug, I think it'€™s only right to fill it with red wine first, and good red wine as Phil [Mickelson] said. We'€™ll try to find a good bottle of that tonight somewhere. But, yeah, this thing will be nice to have in my possession for a year,'€ he said.

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The writer can be reached at dhillond@bellsouth.ne

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