IT is easy to spot the real ones, the special stars, the purveyors of sport as spontaneous, unrehearsed art. And it is easy because they do stuff the rest of us may only dream about. Whether it is a Muhammad Ali shuffle or a George Best dribble, maybe a Roger Federer cross-court backhand or a recovery from apparent oblivion by dear Severiano Ballesteros, these instant masterpieces need no expert approval from some anonymous committee to mark them out as genius.

We, who watch and hope from the sidelines, know exactly what they are when we see them and, of course, we see them rarely, maybe once in every generation if we are lucky. Golf, this wonderful, often frustrating, occasionally uplifting and eternally exacting examination of skill, imagination and mental fortitude, until recently had deliciously paraded Jack Nicklaus, Seve and Tiger Woods before our pleasingly startled eyes.

To this pantheon of modern-game brilliance we may now prepare to add the wee man from Northern Ireland. Quite where Rory McIlroy goes from here remains to be seen but right now as the curtain closes on 2014 he is surely a worthy candidate for election to this most gilded company of men.

It is, of course, now a harsher, ever more

intrusive world in which to compete as a professional sportsman. Day in, day out, cameras capture almost every movement for Instagram while criticism, whether based on intelligent consideration or truculent jealousy, is instantly tweeted for much of the rest of a gawping world to read.

To his credit, McIlroy knows this and accepts it for what, for the most part, it is...nonsense. It is good he feels this way because as he slipped away from the game’s sharpest challenges through 2013 and into 2014, the snipers had him in their sights.

Too much, too soon, is a reasonable summation of these targeted deliberations. To be fair, there was some justification for such a conclusion. McIlroy, back then, was clearly not the young man we had come to both like and admire.

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Rory McIlroy – a member of the gilded company of golfers

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The old fire, the confident swagger off the tee, the passion itself, appeared to have gone and in its place McIlroy looked confused and somewhat lost. If there was a lowest point it probably came during The Open Championship in 2013 where he missed the cut and ruefully admitted he “felt brain-dead”. To many of us who watched him say this at Muirfield he also appeared quite scared.

If so, no wonder. It must indeed be scary to misplace the magic that has embraced you ever since you were old enough to consider such an extraordinary thing. Was he, we wondered, just another comet that had

blazed its way across the sporting sky never to delight us again?

Well, we wonder no longer. Whatever McIlroy had achieved before 2014 – and there was much to savour, including, of course, a United States Open and a US PGA triumph – he has moved onwards and upwards.

He refurbished a battered confidence with a stylish victory at the European Tour’s flagship BMW PGA Championship over the daunting acres of Wentworth’s West Course in May and his play from then was on the far side of scintillating.

Victory at Hoylake in The 143rd Championship Open was a studied exhibition of power-hitting and properly considered strategy. Chased over the final round by a resurgent Sergio Garcia, and an ever-improving Rickie Fowler, he never looked less than comfortable during a final round that was his to lose.

When he won, his instinct was to pull his mum Rosie from her place in the shadows round the 18th green for her to join him in accepting the acclaim. “It’s the first major win mum’s been at. Up to now dad’s hogged the limelight, “ he grinned afterwards.

Jack Nicklaus and Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy with George O’Grady, The Chief Executive of The European Tour, following the announcement that his charitable foundation, The Rory Foundation, will become official tournament host of the Irish Open from 2015

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After a week’s hectic break from playing he pitched up at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and won his first World Golf Championship event, elevating himself to the top of the global rankings. He was, as they say, on a bit of a roll, a fact he underlined emphatically seven days later when he won his second US PGA Championship, this time at Valhalla in Kentucky.

This was the most significant victory of a hugely significant year for this was the major when McIlroy stumbled, recovered and reassured those of us who have fretted over his tendency to fall further apart when his game frayed at the edges. Three shots behind after a rocky front nine he regained balance with a three wood from 281 yards to seven feet at the tenth for an eagle three. He later admitted he had slightly mishit the shot. Everyone, no matter how good, needs a slice of luck and that was Rory’s in 2014.

Six weeks later he was one of the stars of Europe’s Ryder Cup victory at Gleneagles, his almost brutal dismissal of Fowler in the singles a statement of future intent that will resonate with his young American rival for some considerable time. It was, he reflected, a romp through high summer and early autumn he “could not even have dreamed of.”

It was a dream that climaxed with further success in The Race to Dubai and the accompanying title of the European Tour’s Number One golfer for a second time.

Rory McIlroy, a Santander brand ambassador, provides some light-hearted tuition for Boris Johnson as the Mayor of London hits a golf ball on the River Thames

Rory McIlroy with Northern Ireland’s First Minister the Rt. Hon Peter D. Robinson MLA and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness

Rory McIlroy opened in Newcastle, County Down, Northern Ireland, Daisy Lodge - a new therapeutic short-break centre for children with cancer to which his charitable foundation has given £1 millionRory with his mother, Rosie and father, Gerry, and the Claret Jug

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RORY McILROY - FACTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Aged two hit a 40 yard drive.

Aged 18 won the Silver Medal as Leading Amateur in The Open Championship in 2007, after finishing tied 42nd and represented GB and Ireland in the Walker Cup

Aged 18 turned professional and joined The European Tour as an Affiliate Member. Won enough money from just two events to finish in the top 115 of The Order of Merit in 2007. Then the quickest player to achieve the feat.

Aged 19 won his first European Tour event at the 2009 Dubai Desert Classic, to become the seventh youngest winner in European Tour history.

Aged 22 and 46 days became the youngest European Tour Major winner since The European Tour began, when winning the 2011 US Open Championship and youngest winner of the US Open Championship since 1923.

Aged 22 years and 305 days became the second youngest player to reach Number One in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Aged 23 years and 100 days wins his second Major Championship at the 2012 US PGA Championship and that year two US PGA Tour FedEx Cup series events and finishes Number One on the US Money List

Aged 23 years and 191 days claims in 2012 his first Race to Dubai title to emulate Luke Donald (2011) by finishing Number One in both Europe and the United States in the same season. Is the youngest player to be crowned European Tour Number One since Sandy Lyle, aged 22 in 1980. Only Seve Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle and Dale Hayes were younger winners since 1972.

Aged 25 years and 77 days becomes the third youngest player in Major Championship history to win three of the four Major Championships, behind Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Becomes the first European Tour Member to win three of the four Majors. Becomes the first player to win the BMW PGA Championship and Open Championship in the same year. Wins on three consecutive European Tour appearances, The 143rd Open Championship, WGC – Bridgestone Invitational and US PGA Championship. Becomes the first player to win both money titles in Europe and the United States on two occasions in 2012 and 2014.

It was also an irresistible surge forward that persuaded his occasional mentor, Jack Nicklaus, to offer his own description of a player once again comfortable and confident about his destiny. “Rory is an unbelievable talent, “ said Jack. “I love his swing, I love his rhythm, I love his moxie (force of character). I think Rory has an opportunity to win 15 or 20 majors if he wants to keep on playing.”

Evidence, again, from arguably the greatest golfer in history that McIlroy in 2014 re-engaged with the game that had made his name and to which he had dedicated himself from such an early age.

“I am in a really good place,” he said.

“Everything has just been the way I wanted it. I now have a formula that I know works for me, to play my best golf and to get the most out of myself. That’s the formula I am going to try to stick to for the foreseeable future.”

And what a future it promises to be. Rory McIlroy, if you’re not already aware, will not be 26 years old until May, 2015, by which time he may have won the Masters Tournament and completed a personal Grand Slam. For anyone else it would be too much to hope for. Not, however, for this young man.

BILL ELLIOTT Golf Monthly

Year Winner Country2014 Rory McIlroy Northern Ireland2013 Henrik Stenson Sweden2012 Rory McIlroy Northern Ireland2011 Luke Donald England2010 Martin Kaymer Germany2009 Lee Westwood England2008 Robert Karlsson Sweden2007 Justin Rose England2006 Padraig Harrington Ireland2005 Colin Montgomerie Scotland2004 Ernie Els South Africa2003 Ernie Els South Africa2002 Retief Goosen South Africa2001 Retief Goosen South Africa2000 Lee Westwood England1999 Colin Montgomerie Scotland1998 Colin Montgomerie Scotland1997 Colin Montgomerie Scotland1996 Colin Montgomerie Scotland1995 Colin Montgomerie Scotland1994 Colin Montgomerie Scotland1993 Colin Montgomerie Scotland1992 Sir Nick Faldo England1991 Seve Ballesteros Spain1990 Ian Woosnam Wales1989 Ronan Rafferty Northern Ireland1988 Seve Ballesteros Spain1987 Ian Woosnam Wales1986 Seve Ballesteros Spain1985 Sandy Lyle Scotland1984 Bernhard Langer Germany1983 Sir Nick Faldo England1982 Greg Norman Australia1981 Bernhard Langer Germany1980 Sandy Lyle Scotland1979 Sandy Lyle Scotland1978 Seve Ballesteros Spain1977 Seve Ballesteros Spain1976 Seve Ballesteros Spain1975 Dale Hayes South Africa1974 Peter Oosterhuis England1973 Peter Oosterhuis England1972 Peter Oosterhuis England

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THE 2014 RACE TO DUBAI FINAL STANDINGS

EUROPEAN TOUR NUMBER ONES: 1972-2014

Points 1 RORY McILROY 7,149,503 2 Henrik STENSON 4,981,093

3 Justin ROSE 3,180,388

4 Jamie DONALDSON 3,058,166

5 Victor DUBUISSON 2,966,524

6 Sergio GARCIA 2,861,930

7 Marcel SIEM 2,739,373

8 Brooks KOEPKA 2,631,873

9 Alexander LEVY 2,452,757

10 Shane LOWRY 2,173,864