When Rory McIlroy won the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional by eight shots, it was easy to envision him carrying on to win a bunch more of them.
But that U.S. Open turned out to be a bit of an outlier.
McIlroy was a 22-year-old bull in a China shop back then — just gripping and ripping it with a talent level so extraordinary that he could get away with some poor shots here and there and win anyway.
McIlroy won that Open at 16 under par, a number that probably still has the older USGA heads, traditionally bent on making par a magnet for all competitors, queasy when they look back at that week.