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Bunker Mentality's US Open was a story of delight in misfortune, the realities of top level golf - and lashings of optimism for a McIlory-tinted future.

On page 17 of the Lazy Journalist's Manual, it clearly states that any and all post-event, hindsight-infused analytical pieces should include the phrase "the dust has settled".

The weather at last week's US Open, however, renders the advice rather comical: it's not so much a case of 'dust settling' as 'countless millions of gallons of rain and mud finally drying up'.

Yet the rain at Bethpage State Park, so far as Bunker Mentality is concerned, is but a tiny footnote to this story - because the final day's play transformed a damp squib of a tournament into a mesmerising, enthralling spectacle.

We had triumph, disaster, extraordinary comebacks, and slightly distasetful delight at the failure of - let's be honest - the dull pair of journeymen leading the event.

In Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods we had the top two players in the world hitting stunning shots and holing outrageous putts - even if neither managed enough of both.

In Ross Fisher we had a plucky young up-and-comer looking as if he might become a long-overdue British winner of one of golf's sacred trophies - even if his putter let him down so badly that he'd have been better off with a £9.99 job from Argos.

In David Duval we had a revival from a player whose career was so dead and buried that he was more six hundred feet than six feet under. Forget Greg Norman nearly winning at Birkdale last year: if David Duval had pulled off a victory at Bethpage it would have been a resurrection to outshine even that of Jesus himself.

But just when it looked as if it was going to get unbearably exciting, golf reminded us of a few things - and in the process taught us three things.

One of those things, we never knew; one of them we knew, but had forgotten; and the third thing was something that we had an inkling about, but now feel certain is true. Which is very good news indeed.

Here's what those things are.

1. We are ghoulish and despicable people

We've all seen Tin Cup, all cheered for the plucky no-hoper who was about to pull off a miracle, tear-jerking victory, and all winced as the faceless dullard gets to win and lift the trophy after all.

But what happened when it looked like happening for real, when a struggling journeyman ranked outside the world's top 500 built a huge lead and was a few holes from winning the US Open? We sat there, praying for him to start leaking shots, and taking a shameful, ghoulish pleasure in his demise.

Sorry, Ricky. Can't help feeling a bit bad about that now. But thanks for messing up and making it exciting.

In our defence, however, Bunker Mentality has to point out that it's nothing personal against Ricky Barnes, or even eventual winner Lucas Glover, who was scarcely a more likely champion than Barnes would have been.

The thing is this: we wanted to see a close, exciting contest. How do we make the distinction? Because we know we'd have been pulling for Tiger to collapse as well if he'd been six shots clear.

It doesn't matter that Glover won - in fact, it's one of golf's wonders that underdogs can win, and we wish him all the best - but it did matter that he had the good manners to make it the thrilling finish that we'd all hoped for.

2. It's really, really hard to win a Major

Watching the players come down the stretch at Bethpage, this most forgettable of truisms hit Bunker Mentality in a way that it hasn't done for half a generation: Majors are really very difficult indeed to win.

Since Tiger had his annus mirabilis in 2000, he, Phil Mickelson and even Padraig Harrington have lulled us into thinking that Majors are actually fairly easy to win. You simply get yourself into a position where you are brilliant at golf, and nerveless to boot; and then you just turn up and you've a pretty good chance of picking up the trophy.

Bethpage, though, reminded us that it is not enough to do these things.

Because the simple fact is, even for Tiger, that there are 155 other players in the field. And any player good enough to get out on Tour is also good enough to have a purple patch that will see them win whatever tournament they happen to be playing in any given week.

When Tiger Woods enjoys a purple patch week, as he did at the US Open at Pebble Beach in 2000, he wins by 15 shots.

When Lucas Glover - or Rich Beem, or Shaun Micheel, or Paul Lawrie - enjoy that purple patch, they have every chance of sneaking a Major.

Which brings it home: those times that Tiger has snuck his Majors by a shot or so, he's done so while not playing at his best - and that's the most amazing thing of all about his astonishing record.

3. All British players are rubbish except Rory McIlroy. And he may or may not even be British.

We regularly attract contributors debating the ifs, buts and maybes of McIlroy's nationality, particularly when an article about British players has the temerity to bring him up.

For what it's worth, and strictly geographically speaking, Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain; it is part of the UK. And yet the majority of Northern Irish people still refer to themselves as being British - probably if only because it's a lot snappier than using a more accurate phrase such as 'citizen of the United Kingdom'.

So there you go: all cleared up, courtesy of a Belfast born-and-bred friend consulted by BM.

Anyhow, whatever nationality Rory is - and he could be Lithuanian for all we care, so exciting is his talent - he showed first at the Masters and then again at the US Open that he has all the hallmarks of an astoundingly good world-beater.

It's nothing about his general play, nor his unflappable attitude - though both are impressive.

No, it's to do with this: during the final round at Bethpage, when the chips were down, there were two players who kept knocking the pins out with their approach shots, and whom would have been in the mix had they converted their chances better, or controlled their distances better to leave themselves just slightly less to do with the flat stick.

One was Tiger Woods, and the other was Rory McIlroy.

Neither finished the job - or even came close to doing so - but when it mattered, they found a way to shrug off the fact that they weren't having good weeks, and got themselves within a handful of lucky putts of doing something extraordinary.

Sure, Ross Fisher finished higher - and if he'd packed a different putter might have won - but he was having a great week at the office. He could yet win a Major - as could the likes of Paul Casey, Ian Poulter or a number of others - but on the evidence of last week he'll have to be in a purple patch to do so, as discussed above.

What's marks out the multiple Major winners, however - and BM happily includes both Mickelson and Harrington in this - is that they are the rare players who can still compete at the highest level even when not at their best.

It's that rare ability that McIlroy now seems more and more certain to be demonstrating.

While he is still yet to be tested down the stretch, all the signs are there - and that means the next citizen of the UK to become a Major champion might not be that far away after all.

Bunker Mentality / Eurosport