Rory McIlroy is a prodigy. But a prophet? Two weeks before it all went nuclear for Tiger Woods the young Irishman announced that he was taking up membership of the PGA Tour after all, having spent most of last year assuring everybody that he would not sell his soul for the American dollar.

At the same time as he made his announcement in Hong Kong he also insisted that he would remain a member of the European Tour and many rightly pointed to the fact that no one has been able to hold down both jobs. Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington are the two best examples of those who thought they had the physical and mental capacity to do so but the South African ruined his chance of adding to three Major successes while the man from Dublin last won a major or tour title in August 2008 when he, too, took his Grand Slam haul to three with the USPGA. Since then, nada, his repeated mistakes at crucial moments last season suggesting his head was too often in the clouds.

Yet McIlroy could not have timed his Stateside switch better. For in the coming months, if not for the whole season, it is unlikely that he will have to deal with the Tiger factor and without the world No 1 around, life is going to become considerably easier.

McIlroy, remember, has been talked about as the Green Tiger for some time now. And he has so far lived up to the hype. Last season, his first competing in the three American majors, he didn’t finish out of the top twenty and but for a bit more luck might have done even better then tied third as Harrington handed back his USPGA title.

Having become the youngest-ever player to make the world top 50 earlier in 2009 he finished the year being pipped by Lee Westwood in the Race for Dubai by which time his rate of acceleration had become phenomenal: he became the youngest since Sergio Garcia to enter the top ten, going into Christmas in ninth place.

Now, until Woods finds the will to face a public liable to pillory him – beware red-neck moralists, Tiger, bellowing from the depths of their beer guts – Colin Montgomerie thought he had it bad but, boy, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet- McIlroy can speed up even more because any further comparisons with Woods will be only on paper for now.

What is more, when the Sinful Number One does return it will be minus much of the aura that turned his opponents to jelly. He had already lost a touch of the lustre that turned others into losers. At the USPGA he blew a last-day lead for the first time in 15 attempts and Y.E. Yang won. If not exactly seminal, that failure by Woods diminished him a little. It made him seem almost human. Now we all know exactly how human he really is and staring someone down might get a tad difficult for someone who will find it tough enough looking anyone straight in the eye any more. The perfection is now putrefied and the experience must surely poison him.

Of course McIlroy is not the only one who can play while The Cat’s away. Geoff Ogilvy, who should have added to his one US Open title before now, made his declaration of intent at Kapula in the season’s first PGA Tour event. Harrington, providing he really has finished with the swing changes that were as mind-altering as the worst jet-lag, will be rubbing his hands with glee. Phil Mickelson, perhaps more intimidated than any of the top players – will return from nursing his cancer-hit wife with a new zest having now realised more than most of his contemporaries that golf is only a game. And Westwood, European No 1 again, can only believe that he will build on the brilliant ’09 that would have been so, so much better had he not had a rush of blood at the 72^nd hole of The Open. Lucas Glover will be in there again after his triumph at Bethpage Black, reigning Masters champ Angel Cabrerra concentrates now only on winning more majors. The list goes on.

The TV moguls of the US may be wringing their hands at the prospect of massive ratings – and advertising – falls while Tiger licks his wounds and counts up the sponsors who dropped him like he had a nasty rash. As AT&T might say: “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.” But there will be few tears for Tiger amongst those who have so frequently found him standing in their way over the past fourteen years.

It could be argued that without the world No 1 in the field any victory is a pyrrhic one. Harrington, who won his second Open and that USPGA title while Woods was getting his knee fixed, would argue otherwise. He also won the auld Claret Jug for the first time with the then un-shamed superstar as one of those who trailed in his wake. His name is in the record books. End of story. There are those who, since Woods began his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 major championships, now believe that golf if not golf without him. They demean the game, they delete the memory of former greats, and they defame the guts and gumption of someone like Harrington.

Of course it would always be better if Woods is in there. He is, or certainly was, until he reversed into that fire hydrant outside his home and learned what the true ebb and flow is really all about, the best and maybe even the best of the best. But Rory McIlroy won’t be worrying about any of that if he has a ten footer to win at Augusta in April. Nor will any of his rivals. The journey to that point may well have become a tad easier, but only in relative terms.

Any tears, at that point, won’t be for Tiger and they certainly won’t be crocodile. They will be about triumph and the grasping of destiny. Or maybe they will be about failure and regret. Whatever. And if there is anyone out there who, more than most might need to borrow a handkerchief one way or another in the coming months, it is liable to be young Rory.

Back home in Belfast they already think he walks on water. He may well be about to prove to the rest of world that he can do just that. Don’t forget, he decided to spend more time in the US a fortnight before the chain of events that nuked Tiger’s façade. McIlroy knew what he was taking on then and wanted the challenge. That challenge is now a touch easier with the world No 1 out of the picture. Now, he might just have the extra leg room that means he is not flying, as Harrington and Els did, into trans-Atlantic turbulence.

As Tiger so loved to tell us, it is what it is. And what it is for McIlroy is about timing. And his timing appears to have been spot-on. Tiger will be missed. Any number one in any sport would be. But we are not somehow observing the death of golf. Not unless we are an American TV executive. What we are about to witness is the coming of a new superstar, not the game’s disappearance into the Black Hole. Remember, for example, that membership rates of golf clubs in Britain are down big-style and that has happened even in the cosmic presence of Tiger. It is down to the economy, stupid. Meanwhile Rory McIlory’s decision to burn the candle at both ends now doesn’t look so stupid after all. After all, it might just be the best one he’s made in his short, spectacular career.

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it