The year of 2012 has been an absolutely memorable one for golfer Rory McIlroy. He has cemented his place at World Number One in the Official Rankings and the Northern Irishman also won four times in America including a second Major victory at the US PGA Championship.
And earlier this week he was quite rightly voted the player of the year by the PGA Tour leading to congratulatory messages from legends of the game including Jack Nicklaus.
In my view, McIlroy is only going to get better as he develops in the years to come and that is something not just golf fans should be excited about, but sports fans in general. However, it is those in the world of marketing that should be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of him being the world's dominant golfer over the next decade.
Golf for many is a sport that is dull and takes far too long to complete. Even casual viewers only regularly turn in for The Open each year due to it being one of the main events of the British sporting summer. Many only tune into the Ryder Cup every two years to try and see us beat the Americans.
There's only a select group of fans and media writers who closely follow the game of golf week in week out every year and are genuinely excited by it. How can that attitude be changed? Step forward the aforementioned Rory McIlroy.
This young man who is only 23 is the most exciting player to come into the golfing world since the emergence of Tiger Woods when he won the Masters by 12 shots in 1997. This sort of remarkable play is commonplace to McIlroy and it is an absolute joy to watch. When he brings his A-game to the course, the rest of the players would be as well staying in the car park.
Let me present exhibit A. The month is April 2011 and the annual Masters tournament is taking place in Augusta. Heading in, McIlroy is in fine form and many were tipping him to break his Major duck (including me). For three days, he played flawless golf, giving him a three shot lead going into the final day. However, the mental toughness needed to win a Major title eluded him as he crumbled on the back nine.
Fast forward to the US Open In June at the notoriously tough Congressional course. Nobody I spoke to gave McIlroy any chance of winning. He was still to fragile they said. The pain of the Masters was still far too raw. What happened next was one of the most breathtaking displays of golf I have ever witnessed, right up there with Tiger Woods in the US Open at Pebble Beach in 2000. McIlroy shot four rounds in the 60's and won the tournament by eight shots.
At this years PGA Championship he shot brilliant weekend rounds of 67 and 66 to win his second Major by eight shots. That's the beauty of McIlroy- when he wins, he wins by massive margins.
For a golfer to be truly special though and a worldwide brand, they have to have more about them than just being a very good player. One of McIlroy's key attributes is where he is from, namely Northern Ireland.
For years, the country has been associated with violence and trouble and sadly this week we are still seeing signs of that. However, McIlroy's success is something everyone in the country should be hugely proud of. To put it in context, Northern Ireland has a population of less than 2 million. The United States of America has a population of well over 300 million.
McIlroy is taking on the world and becoming the very best in his discipline. His good friend Graeme McDowell won the US Open in 2010 and that gave McIlroy a taste for it. For all of his family and friends back in the small town of Holywood in Northern Ireland, his triumphs bring endless smiles. Every time he wins a tournament, he is showing off the country in a good light and that is absolutely wonderful.
Most world renowned sporting stars are often seen with a world renowned woman on their arm as well as they travel the world. Think David Beckham with Victoria. Or Lance Armstrong with Sheryl Crow. Rory's ticked this box as well. Days after he won the US Open, he started going out with Caroline Wozniacki, who has been ranked as the World Number One female tennis player. Just about every week speculation is rife as to whether they will get married or not. His name is always being talked about and not just amongst the golf journalists.
A staggering stat showed that after his US Open success 39% of 18-24 year olds in Britain said they were inspired to take up golf because of his success. I'd doubt many golfers could say the same.
And finally his name has become a brand. Just like Seve in the 80's or Tiger in the 2000's, Rory is a name that is instantly recognisable. People don't need to ask what their surname is. That was shown when Rory was running late for his Ryder Cup singles match back in September. Networks were running with "Rory in late dash to Medinah." Could the networks have done that for anyone else on the European team? I don't think so.
McIlroy has the world at his feet with a £156m contract with Nike set to land his way shortly and if you want a modern indicator as to how big a brand he is just take a look at his Twitter follower count. He currently has over 1.4m people following him.
Golf may never appeal to many people but if McIlroy continues with his superb form, he is going to be very hard to ignore just like Tiger was in his prime.
