British Open 2018: Top five takeaways from Carnoustie

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CARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND – JULY 22: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts to his second shot on the first hole during the final round of the 147th Open Championship at Carnoustie Golf Club on July 22, 2018 in Carnoustie, Scotland. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images) /

Before Rory McIlroy came out on top this past March at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, it had been nearly a year and a half since his last victory. That shouldn’t be totally surprising, considering how hard it is to win on the PGA TOUR. But come on, this is Rory we’re talking about here. The guy who was supposed to take the torch from Tiger Woods and lead golf into a new generation.

Well, while people may have been sleeping on his chances, he used the British Open to prove, once again, that he’s still one of the game’s top talents. World Ranking points aside – he’s still comfortably inside the top ten by the way, currently ranking seventh – McIlroy gave himself a legitimate shot at the Claret Jug yet again.

"“I committed to everything,” he said in the moments after the Open. “I hit the shots when I needed to. I made good swings on 17 and on 18. I just ran out of holes.”"

For those of you keeping track, his last four Open results are: Win – T5 – T4 – T2. Tiger had a run like that in the early 2000s, and Jordan Spieth is working in that direction. We’re talking about the absolute best in the world, and Rory still clearly belongs there.

For many of us, this seems obvious, but sports can be a heavy “what have you done for me lately” type of business. And Rory is looking to keep building on this recent run of success as we head into the home stretch of the season.

Smart money says he’ll be right in the thick of things all the way through the Ryder Cup in Paris this fall.

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