The Open 2014: Rory McIlroy win signals new era in golf, says Ewen Murray

That was some week at Royal Liverpool!

In Rory McIlroy, the Royal and Ancient Club have a magnificent champion and the world of golf is at the beginning of a new era.

Rory's win was achieved in true superstar style and Spain's Sergio Garcia and American Rickie Fowler showed they will be major contenders in the future.

Add to that, Hideki Matsuyama, Jordan Spieth, Victor Dubuisson, Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Martin Kaymer and Matteo Manessero and you have the future of the game. They will inspire others as this new dawn try to dominate the next decade.

Like many, I was thrilled for Rory McIlroy. Having endured some turbulent moments during the past year, the Northern Irishman never lost faith in his own considerable ability and he has a chance to become only the sixth player to complete the Grand Slam before he turns 26 years of age. That would be quite some achievement.

I was thrilled for his two exceptional parents who have dedicated their lives to their son. They have supported him through thick and thin and there is no doubt they went without in tough times to give Rory the best possible chance to succeed.

The tale of dad Gerry's bet that he would win the Open before the age of 26 was heartwarming. Rory would enjoy that as much as he enjoyed winning the Claret Jug! His mum, Rosie's, tears at the back of Hoylake's 18th green were ones of sheer joy and pride, a moment her son will cherish forever. It was a wonderful Open Championship.

Our majors are superb events and the success of them is the fact they are so different. The Masters stays at Augusta and is run like clockwork by their committee. The US Open have their way of setting up the course to make Par a test and the PGA of America visit great American courses, old and new, to decide their champion.

In the R&A, we have amateurs doing a thoroughly professional job and we should all be proud of what they achieve year in year out. I'm biased of course, but The Open is unique, four days of great golf from the best players on iconic old natural courses. For every golfer the Open Championship is a big part of our lives.

In Peter Dawson, chief of the R&A, the game has an outstanding leader and when he retires next year, he will be extremely hard to replace. His decision to put the players off two tees on Saturday for the first time in the Open was met with some negative comments. It was a calculated and inspired choice, because had he not done so, it would have robbed us of one of the best Sundays in Open history.

Tiger Woods returned to major golf after back surgery and it’s time to cut him a little slack.

Four months on from a serious operation, Woods produced a fabulous "up and down" to make the cut on the mark and progress through to the weekend. I would say that was a more than decent effort given the circumstances and confirms his heart, nerves and mind are as strong as ever.

The time to assess Tiger is when he returns to 100% health and his next two tournaments are at Firestone Country Club and Valhalla for the year’s final major, two courses he has triumphed on impressively in the past.

The worry for him is his errant ways off the tee. For someone who plays the game from 150 yards and with such poise, touch, imagination and elegance, his basic fundamentals in his long game are well below average.

My opinion is that during his latest extensive remodelling, he has ignored the very foundations that lead to playing well consisten