There’s something about Rory

After enough “will he or won’t he” reports and speculations to make even Brett Favre tired, 20-year-old Rory McIlroy announced last week that yes, he will be joining the PGA Tour in 2010. The end result is a bit anticlimactic; McIlroy has already been playing the majors, the WGC events, and a few other tournaments in the same time frame, so PGA Tour membership will only add a handful of tournaments to his U.S. schedule.

So how will Rory McIlroy do on the PGA Tour? As far as this armchair analyst is concerned, he’ll do just fine. He’s been under the spotlight for a few years already, and is living up to the hype. In 2009, he had a win over a strong field in Dubai, 5th place in the WGC-Accenture Match Play, and top-10 finishes in both the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship. I met McIlroy at Doral in March, at the WGC-CA Championship, and was as impressed with his personality as I was with his game. He is confident without being cocky, and displays a greater maturity than many players several years his senior. That will likely serve him even better than a 300-yard drive as he embarks on his PGA Tour career.

Will he win on the PGA Tour in 2010? I’ll give him 50-50 odds (which is better than I’d give any other PGA rookie this year); a lot will depend on which tournaments and courses he chooses to play. I will predict that he has top-10 performances in at least three of the four majors this year. And if the crowds I witnessed this year are any indication, he’ll also have dozens of teenage and pre-teen girls following his every move more closely than any golf writer!