.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
Does Rory McIlroy's Match Play win signal he's going on a run of victories?
SAN FRANCISCO -- Only time will tell how posterity will view Rory McIlroy's first WGC-Cadillac Match Play title. Will it be another stepping-stone in a decorated career or just a highlight in a career that was very good, but not great?
So far, McIlroy's good play has come in spurts. Recent history shows that when he gets going, he puts together a string of good tournaments.
In 2012, McIlroy lost to Hunter Mahan in the final match of the then-WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship (it was played in February that year), captured the Honda Classic a week later, then finished third at the WGC-Cadillac Championship.
Later that year, McIlroy would finish T-5 at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, win the PGA Championship and follow that up with victories at the Deutsche Bank Championship and the BMW Championship.
McIlroy would extend that good play to a third at the Barclays Singapore Open and win the DP World Tour Championship on the European Tour.
In 2014, McIlroy's big run began with the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, the PGA Championship at Valhalla, then continued with runners-up at the Alfred Dunhill Links and the DP World Tour Championship on the European Tour. With that, McIlroy solidified himself as the best golfer on the planet.
With the exception of Jordan Spieth's victories at the Australian Open and the Hero World Challenge at the end of 2014 -- not to mention Spieth's impressive Masters victory last month -- McIlroy has enjoyed the spotlight for the past eight months.
McIlroy's victory Sunday at TPC Harding Park was noteworthy mainly because he played in seven matches and was the last man standing after 121 holes.
Two of those matches went to extra holes. In his third-round match against Billy Horschel, McIlroy had to birdie Nos. 16, 17 and 18 to force extra holes. McIlroy won that match in 20 holes to advance to the weekend.
"The putt on 17 against Billy," McIlroy said of the 26-footer for birdie that was perhaps the most important shot he hit all week, "basically, if I don't hole that, I don't even get through to the last 16 (on the match-play bracket)."
McIlroy also had to outlast Paul Casey in a 22-hole quarterfinal match that began Saturday evening and ended Sunday morning.
In both cases, McIlroy didn't make the mistakes, but let the others help his cause, which sounds eerily familiar to another World No. 1 player who won this event three times as the top seed. That man was Tiger Woods.
"A lot of guys can flip the switch, but the switch doesn't work all the time. His switch worked. He flipped it," said Gary Woodland, who lost to McIlroy in the title match. "You could see he had a little more pep in his step; he was walking a little more quickly."
McIlroy will turn 26 on Monday, and he clearly seems to have so much more to realize over the next 20 years or so.
His demeanor after his 16th worldwide victory on Sunday showed more maturity than he exhibited after his first victory at the Dubai Desert Classic in 2009, but that's to be expected now that his career is in full bloom and his march to win more majors is just in its nascent stages.
"I just want to try to keep increasing it," McIlroy said of his lead in the Official World Golf Ranking. "Obviously I've done that today. I've got a few more opportunities over the next few weeks to do the same thing. Ultimately, it's about wins. If you win, it sort of takes care of all that stuff."
