How Did Alexander The Great Die

Rory McIlroy breaks through with No. 1

BETHESDA, Md. -- Rory McIlroy 's life changed Sunday in ways that even he can't comprehend yet. And it's not just because he won the U.S. Open by what amounted to a mercy rule, or that the Congressional Country Club course's deflector shields were useless against him.

His life changed because with the first majors victory of his career, McIlroy officially became The Next Tiger Woods . And he did it while The Present Tiger Woods still might have a few fist pumps left in him.

"I was trying to go out there and emulate him in some way," said McIlroy, who grew up in the Woods era.

He did. His 16-under-par total (he doubled up second-place finisher Jason Day at 8-under) was Tiger-esque, circa 2000 at Pebble Beach. McIlroy could have contracted the measles on the back nine and still won with ease.

So now come the comparisons to Woods. Unless, of course, you want to compare McIlroy to his new BFF, Jack Nicklaus , whose 18 career majors victories remain the Maybach of all golf records.

Woods has been stuck on 14 majors wins since 2008. He has a bum knee, a bad Achilles and he's trying to find a happy place in his personal life. He's also 35, which isn't ancient, but it isn't exactly the go-zone of his golf career.

When McIlroy smooched the U.S. Open trophy Sunday evening, he was exactly 22 years, 46 days old. That's about 10½ months older than Woods was when he won his first major in 1997, but about 3½ months younger than Nicklaus when he won his first in 1962.

This matters because the majors clock is now ticking on McIlroy. Like it or not, you can argue that McIlroy might have a better chance of tying or surpassing Nicklaus' record than Woods does. Woods has a 13-major lead on the Northern Irishman, but McIlroy leads Tiger in the health category: no surgical scars on his knees, no emotional scars on his personal life. He also has at least -- what -- 20 more good years and 80 more majors left in his career?

"There's a long way to go, isn't there?" said McIlroy's agent, Chubby Chandler, who hinted that Rory might increase his U.S. playing presence. "Certainly he has the talent."

With that, there can be no argument. Like Woods, McIlroy was a child golf prodigy. Like Woods, he's off to an early majors start.

But Woods keeps the media at a distance. He talks, but he rarely reveals. McIlroy has been taught by his agent and by his fellow European Tour buddies, such as Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell , to treat the media not as adversaries, but as partners of sorts.

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"When man meets a force he can't destroy, he destroys himself. What a plague you are."

Becoming successful. Garnering applause. Accomplishing goals. Finishing challenges. Competing. All these things imply a pinnacle of sorts, the top. And if you don't know where to go from the top, you may fall to the bottom.

In our little CrossFit planet regionals are ending all over the world. Something like 24 or so athletes, team and individual, win a position to the big show in Carson at the hallowed Home Depot Center. The rest of us go home and say, "Now What"? Home is depressing when you have prepared for abroad, or at least when you haven't prepared for anything else.

Humans $#@& shit up. Really, that could be the truest statement I have penned. Various reasons not withstanding one very true, very common reason we are constantly running in circles is our vision. And our vision is a huge issue. When I go to the optometrist and he examines my eyes, he may give me a prescription to help me see better. Get it? "ME" see better. He may do the exact same for you, but the prescription is NOT the same. If we swapped glasses for fun, the only people having a laugh would be the folks watching us try to live with the eyes of another; eyes that don't see shit the same way.

Yet we are always trying to help others in the way we need help. I know this because I have done it for years and years. Up until the point when I realized my life's calling has little to do with weights, chalk, and ropes. It's all about vision. It's all the glasses I have to wear to see the way YOU need helped not the arguments about the way I think you should perceive things.

When I began working with athletes over ten years ago, I thought 90% of my time was diet and training. I was wrong. Today, I argue less than 50% is dedicated to that end. The rest is dedicated to winning wars rather than fighting battles. Battles in life come and go, but the war will always continue. And if I can't prepare you for the end of every battle, won or lost. For what's to come, success or failure. For winning some, and losing more all the same, then what good am I? If you don't want to fight with me today and tomorrow, whether your challenge is over, your contest finished, or Games chance eliminated, I have failed you, and, oh, have I failed before.