RORY SPEARS 8 HANDICAP                     2011  US OPEN                RORY MCILROY US OPEN CHAMP

OKAY...I HAVE SOME CATCHING UP TO DO. Yeah right, this is one Rory I will
never catch. In fact most touring pros are not going to catch him either. Just like
this week. Hopefully I will catch up with him at some tournament somewhere,

Rory on Rory it's a great interview looking to happen. Maybe 10 questions with
your namesake, can be another feature.

As I sit here typing this, the words of the late Phil Kosin ring out in my ears. Kosin
said them one Monday morning in April of 1997. It was the Greater Chicagoland
Golf Media Association annual golf summit, and Kosin was being the M-C.

"Yesterday the golf world as we know it changed," Kosin said. Kosin was right,
the Tiger Era was upon us. It ran for fourteen years, the last few not so well.
The final chapter of it isn't written yet, but it appears it will come up a few majors
short of 18.

How many can the newly crowned US Open Champion win. The sky is the limit
and nobody, not even Rory McIlroy knows. One thing McIlroy knows, and everyone
knows, the Masters "Back Nine on Sunday" collapse is behind him and that chapter
is closed. NO it will not haunt him forever, then again maybe it will. That's if he only
finishes his golf career someday with 17 or 18 major championships under his belt.

TO LISTEN TO RORY MCILROY, GRAEME MCDOWELL, JASON DAY..CLICK HERE.

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Three years after that Masters win, Woods broke through with an amazing win in
the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach. Double digits under par, when nobody else
was. The NBC broadcast team thought we might never see something like that
again. That was unless Woods did it again. They were wrong.

It took 11 years, and it did happen again. Not by Woods either, who was home
with his feet up, while being on the DL. Woods used to amaze fans by how low
he could go. Boy he still does.

A new champion was born yesterday, he goes pretty low too. On the golf course
that is, that's why his peers are beaming about him. What the world saw this past
week, is that the opportunity to win a major or many majors just disappeared for
a whole bunch of players. The sound they heard was a door slamming on major
titles.

The new era begins now, the new generation is here armed with talent and a
game that can win at any level and at any tournament, minor or major. It would
be easy just to say the Tiger Era is over, and maybe it is but Woods is not alone
here. Unless it's Augusta, I'm not sure Phil Mickelson wins another major either.

If I'm a Las Vegas bookie, I say the over/under on major wins by Tiger and Phil
going forward combined is two. Place your bets.

The McIlroy Era is here, somewhere Phil Kosin is smiling. I just wish he could
put out one more Chicagoland Golf with that as the headline.

ONE OTHER THOUGHT..to NBC and the other networks broadcasting major
championships. The players do not need to be scheduled to finish just before
dark. Next year the Olympic Club in San Francisco is the host. It's frightening
to think what NBC might do with a west coast club.

I can just see McIlroy trying to defend his title, with the third round in play at
8 PM PST in San Francisco. The temperature has dropped 25 degrees in the
last two hours since Luke Donald posted that 68, to pull within one shot of
the lead. Oh wait, here comes the fog too. Where are those volunteers, did
you see the ball. It's a mess just waiting to happen. Let's hope it doesn't.

THE GOG BLOG SPEAKS OUT..is the opinion of Rory Spears that is. Not my
partners on Golfers on Golf radio, even though it could be. Comments welcome
at this website, or on Twitter @GogBlogGuy or FB Rory Spears. Or join us
tonight at 6 PM WJJGAM1530.com or at (708)-493-1530.

The US Open is now over...GO PLAY....Rory