On the Monday morning after Tiger Woods secured his seventh career victory at Doral, it was the lead story on ESPN.com. Not baseball, basketball nor football. What was known to be true has been confirmed; there has never a star in the history of golf like Woods. He wins and suddenly the casual sports fan cares about golf. He is the quintessential frontrunner in a nation of frontrunners. And he is the biggest celebrity that the game has ever seen.

There have been other players that have become a part of the general landscape of American sport. But the only comparison to Tiger’s celebrity in the modern era is Arnold Palmer. Palmer had the looks of a matinee idol and the guts of a burglar, was a perfect combination for a sport in need a hero from central casting to represent it at the dawn of the age of television. Palmer was a true celebrity who along with his agent Mark McCormack invented the modern sports celebrity business.

But Palmer never had to deal with paparazzi, cellphone cameras, tabloid media and the blogosphere. He was protected from distractions and detractors in a way that simply is not possible today.

Golf is arguably the sport that is the least compatible with celebrity. Notoriety means distraction and there is precious little room for distraction in the mind of a golfer. Woods was born and raised in the electronic age; he was groomed not only to survive it, but also to thrive in it. He inspires love and hate. He gets fan mail and he gets death threats. Whatever you might think of him, he is a compelling figure. He is a household name and a topic that everyone knows something about. He was taught from an early age how to seal himself in cocoon of competitive plasma, only allowing a select few in and a precious little information out. He has proven that he can handle the pressure and the scrutiny and still perform at the highest level.

At the other end of the leaderboard this week was Rory McIlroy. He’s ranked as the top golfer in the world, but McIlroy spent the week sorting out his swing to recapture the magic that catapulted him to the top of the game last year.

Along with his five wins in 2012, including his second major championship, came attention for the young Irishman; people loved to watch Rory take the hardest game and make it look simple. Like Tiger, the combination of talent, looks, achievement and perceived personality has made Rory a celebrity. When he signed on the dotted line with Nike, it confirmed that he wanted to see if he could do what only Woods has done so far; be a mega-celebrity in a game traditionally dominated by introverts.

It’s too early to tell whether Rory will be able to deal with the pressure that comes from oversized contracts and matching expectations. He is dealing with a lot of new things in a sport that favors routine. In his pre-tournament press conference, McIlroy said that he wanted to, “go out there and remember to smile, to have fun.”

But the athletes that define our era are not the guys who go out and have fun. Michael Jordan set the modern standard for the “winning is everything” athlete at Team Nike and Tiger Woods is a worthy heir to that legacy. They have in common a burning desire to be the best, to place themselves in a category not only apart from the current completion but any competition ever. It takes a person who doesn’t care what others do or what others think — someone who does not care about being liked. The game is not fun for them. Winning is fun; and maybe more than that. It’s oxygen, and without their wins they would cease to be who they are.

The reason that Rory’s trajectory is so enticing is because it presents a situation that we’ve never witnessed — Rory has shown us that he has the game to beat Woods, even when Woods is at his very best. Like Woods, McIlroy hits towering dives, laser-like irons and is daring and imaginative with his wedges. McIlroy’s eight-shot victory in the 2011 U.S. Open was the most dominating performance since Woods’ 15-shot destruction of the field in the 2000 U.S. Open. His record eight-shot margin of victory in the 2012 PGA Championship bested by one shot the previous mark set by Jack Nicklaus.

When you compare resumes, the only other men who have accomplished as much, as soon as McIlroy are Woods and Nicklaus. Having both Woods and McIlroy at the top of their games at the same time would be a classic matchup of Invincible vs. Inevitable, the most compelling rivalry since Nicklaus and Watson.

Woods has spent two years rebuilding his swing, but the more significant renovations took place in his psyche. He took the damaged edifice that was his competitive confidence and gutted it to the walls. In its place is a brand new structure that is built to take him to 18 majors and beyond. It is doubtful that anyone or anything will be allowed to distract him again in his quest.

As for young McIlroy, he has the potential to do any thing that he wants. As he finds his way forward, his personal and professional success will depend on him deciding exactly what that is. His 65 on Sunday at Doral showed that maybe all he needs is some competitive rounds under his belt to get his game firing on all cylinders again. Clearly he wants to play well and he likes to win. But everybody likes to win; the all-time greats needed to win.

To be true a rival with Woods, McIlroy must find a way to match Woods’ single-mindedness. The best person to consult on how to do that would probably be Woods himself, but that’s one range tip he’s probably not willing to share and probably never will. And for Rory, who likes to smile and have fun, maybe that’s a good thing.