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As many of us prepare to watch The Open Championship (the British Open for those of you in the States), one of the leading contenders will be the US Open Champion Rory McIlroy.  McIlroy conquered the rest of the field in historic fashion just a few weeks ago at Congressional Country Club outside Washington D.C. His 8 shot victory was the largest at the US Open since Tiger Woods back in 2000. He also became the youngest winner of that event at 22 years old since Bobby Jones in 1923. We believe there are some critical leadership lessons we can learn from Rory.

What makes this victory even more impressive was that when we had last seen Rory McIlroy in a major before the US Open, he self destructed during the final round of The Masters in Augusta, GA back in April. He started the final Sunday with a 4 shot lead and had one arm in the winner's green jacket. However, some 5 hours later he carded a final round 80 and finished in a tie for 15th place.

Following the Masters many people in the media wondered if McIlroy would ever get his confidence back to compete at golf's most elite level. Most people thought it would certainly take longer than the 2 months between the Masters and the US Open. However, McIlroy used the Masters as a learning experience and was able to achieve even higher performance at the US Open.

"Going back to Augusta this year, I felt like that was a great opportunity to get my first major. It didn't quite work out," McIlroy said. "But to come back straightaway at the U.S. Open and win, that is nice. You can always call yourself a major champion, and hopefully after this, I can call myself a multiple major champion"...

- Article by Karl Moore and Devin Bigoness

Read full article: , July 12, 2011