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BETHESDA, Md. — This was hardly the luck of the Irish.
Luck had nothing to do with the record-shattering performance for the ages Rory McIlroy put the finishing touches on yesterday.
This was old-school, wire-to-wire dominance on the part of McIlroy, who dismantled the 111th U.S. Open field and Congressional’s supposedly intimidating Blue Course en route to a shocking eight-shot victory.
McIlroy, the 22-year-old from Northern Ireland, took an eight-shot lead into the final round and played like he was intent on turning it into an 18-shot lead before the end of the day.
This was a distinct departure from the strategy and body language McIlroy displayed in the final round of the Masters in April, when he blew a four-shot lead by playing defensively.
By the time he hoisted the trophy to celebrate his first major championship victory yesterday, McIlroy had obliterated the U.S. Open record for most under par at 16 under, beating Tiger Woods’ record of 12-under.
McIlroy broke the all-time U.S. Open scoring record of 272 by four shots, finishing on 268.
“It’s been an incredible week,” McIlroy said. “I couldn’t ask for much more. I’m so happy to be holding this trophy.”
Irishman Padraig Harrington said McIlroy winning this U.S. Open “is indeed his destiny.”
“It’s not amazing that he’s [winning] a major, but it’s amazing how comfortable that he’s lapping the field,” Harrington said. “Sometimes you see a guy run away with a tournament and they’re draining putts from all angles and everything is going their way.
“From what I’ve seen, he’s been very comfortable and it’s been well within him. It’s really been a very easygoing lapping of the field. There might be people capable of winning a major, but there’s not too many people capable of dominating and running away from the field in a major.”
Defending U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell, also from Northern Ireland, said this of McIlroy winning his first major: “It’s been waiting to happen. He’s been this good for a long time, and it’s great to see him fulfill his potential.
“Nothing this kid does ever surprises me. … He’s a breath of fresh air for the game, and perhaps we’re ready for golf’s next superstar, and maybe Rory is it.”
Making McIlroy’s performance even more amazing was the fact that it’s the second consecutive year the U.S. Open trophy will reside in Northern Ireland.
Given the tiny size of Northern Ireland, this is akin to two guys from Rhode Island winning the U.S. Open in consecutive years.
“Thinking of moving to Northern Ireland,” Luke Donald, the No. 1 ranked player, tweeted just as McIlroy closed out the victory.
“The probability of Northern Ireland producing back-to-back U.S. Open champions is a lottery number,” McDowell said. “Ireland is a very small place. People love their golf in Ireland. They’re very proud of their golfers in Ireland and we continue to produce great players.
“What Harrington did a few years back, people just couldn’t believe it. And for me to win the U.S. Open last year, I mean, it was just met with an unbelievable reception, and now we’ve got the U.S. Open trophy coming back to Northern Ireland again.
“People are really going to stand up and notice this. This kid has been knocking on the door for a long time and he really is the real deal.”
Said McIlroy: “For such small nation to win two U.S. Opens is pretty special. I know there’ll be a lot of pints of Guinness going down at this time.”
Watching the way McIlroy perform yesterday, you’d be hard-pressed to believe he’d been through any sort of horrible experience at Augusta two months ago.
Showing no sign of any nerves, he calmly birdied his first hole of the day and, by the time he nearly holed out on the par-3 10th hole, settling for a tap-in birdie instead of the ace, McIlroy had it to 17-under par and had a 10-shot lead with eight holes to play.
“What happened at Augusta was a great learning experience for me,” McIlroy said. “I learned a lot about myself and my game, and I knew what I had to do to win today and it paid off.”
mcannizzaro@nypost.com
