Record breaker! McIlroy romps to victory by eight shots in USPGA Championship at Kiawah Island

Turn up in a shirt of Tiger red on the final day of a major, and you better be able to walk the walk. Fortunately, Rory McIlroy was more than up to the task on Sunday, marching proudly to his second major victory with a flawless performance at the USPGA Championship.     
That blood-red shirt and this remarkable eight stroke triumph that eclipsed the previous record set by Jack Nicklaus in 1980 said it all.   
Move over Tiger, this is Rory's era now.     

Winner: Rory McIlroy won his second major at Kiawah Island

No pressure: Crowds turned out in full force at Kiawah Island

Well done, son: McIlroy hugged his father Gerry after his triumph

Final leaderboard

Rory McIlroy - 13
David Lynn -5
Justin Rose -4
Ian Poulter -4
Selected others
Tiger Woods -2
Luke Donald +2

Thirteen months after becoming the youngest winner of the US Open for 90 years – he won that one by eight as well -  the history man was at it again, becoming the youngest winner of this event since it adopted the strokeplay format in 1958. At 23 years and three months, he is four months younger than Tiger Woods when he won his second major.   

Here's the company he is now keeping: only Tiger, Rory, Jack and Seve won two majors by the age of 25 in the modern era.      

'This is a dream came true to add my name to the greats who have won this trophy,' said McIlroy.

Not today: Tiger Woods was not happy with his game on the penultimate day of the competition

David Lynn had to settle for second place

Justin Rose could not make up the lost ground over McIlroy on the final day

'I had a good feeling about this week when I came here but I never imagined it would go quite as well as this. My putting in the final round was phenomenal.'   

If truth be told, so was the rest of his game during this incredible Sunday but it was on the greens where he really left his mark, needing just 23 putts. McIlroy completed his third round held over from Saturday's storm in the morning  in 67 strokes before going out in the afternoon and beating that total by one. All on the course labelled by Golf Digest as the toughest course in America.     

All the plaudits on this day belonged to players from team GB. The only player who seriously threatened McIlroy was Ian Poulter, who began with five straight birdies before fading a little to be part of the quartet who finished tied third alongside Justin Rose and defending champion Keegan Bradley.    

Carl Pettersson plays a shot out of the bunker during the final round

Runner-up, would you believe, after a final round 69 was their fellow countryman David Lynn, the little-known 38 year old Englishman playing in just his second major and who can now look forward to a third at the Masters next April.    

'I didn't know until I came off that this performance got me into Augusta as well so that's just brilliant, obviously,' said Stoke resident Lynn, who birdied all four par fives in his final round 68. His prize of £600,000 was three times larger than his previous best. 'When you're a kid you dream of playing in the four majors and now I've finished second at the PGA and I'm off to Augusta. That's just amazing.'
It's official then. Rory's 'difficult' summer is now over, and heaven knows what the internet trolls and the ignorant know-alls who wrote McIlroy off as a one major wonder are going to make of this. Falling in love and taking his eye off the ball was written up almost as a crime in some quarters, rather than part of the natural cycle of life.    

Picture perfect: Rory celebrates his second major

As ever with McIlroy, in coming to terms with juggling the personal and professional, he has proved the fastest of learners. After staying up to watch his beloved Caroline Wozniacki play tennis on Saturday, he flattened the best players in his sport in a manner that was Roger Federer-good.    

The brief moment of danger arrived when Poulter made the most mesmerizing start to any round he has played in his colourful career. He was adamant before going out he was playing so well he had a low number in him.   

Who knew it would be so low he would stand over an eagle putt on the 7th with the chance to go seven under for his round? No Englishman or Northern Irishman had won this event since it became a strokeplay event and here was the prospect of a thrilling shoot-out between the pair to see who could create their own piece of history.   

Class apart: McIlroy won the Championship by eight shots

Class apart: McIlroy won the Championship by eight shots

Not for long, mind. Not when McIlroy's on his game and begins with a four shot lead. It's like giving Mo Farah a 20 yard head start.   

Let's hope Poults wins a major one day, though, because he's thrilling to watch when he's got his Ryder Cup hat on.  So it began: first hole – birdie from 15ft; 2nd hole – birdie from 4ft; 3rd – birdie from 4ft; 4th – birdie from 18ft; 5th – birdie from 18ft. When he stood over another birdie effort from 18ft at the 6th, there was almost a sense of surprise when it did not fall. 

It was fantastic stuff, and so it continued when he found the par five 7th in two. How would McIlroy respond?   

Unbridled: McIlroy celebrates after he birdied on the final hole

In a word: imperiously. From a difficult lie on pine straw at the 2nd, the 23 year old played a wonderful wedge to 5ft and stroked in the putt. At the next he struck his approach to 8ft and knocked in that birdie putt as well. Poulter was six under for seven holes and yet still trailed by two.   

No wonder the errors crept in for Poults thereafter. His considerable consolation is that he is now in Europe's Ryder Cup team.  

McIlroy, meanwhile, delivered a clinic. When he wasn't driving like Jack Nicklaus he was chipping and putting like Seve Ballesteros. Over the back nine it was him against the record books. Could he pass Nicklaus's record winning margin of seven strokes, established in 1980? What do you think? On the last hole he lined up a birdie putt from 20ft and, like so many on this day, it fell into the hole and he raised his arms in triumph.
By the side of the green was his dad Gerry, a humble golf club steward who sacrificed so much to give his boy his chance. At the end, the pair enjoyed a loving embrace.     

What of the other man wearing red? Woods finished with a humdrum 72 to finish tied 11th. At 36, if truth be told, he looked ordinary by comparison and there's no shame in that. Not when McIlroy's in this mood.    

As in London, so at Kiawah. Time to pass on the torch.