Rory McIlroy may look like he ought to be wandering the halls of Hogwarts Academy with Harry Potter, but it's his golf skills that are truly magical.

Ow. Sorry. I just caused myself physical pain with that hack lead. Hang on a second. Wow, that was bad.

Okay, back at it now. McIlroy is just 20 years old, but he's currently sitting atop the rankings of the European Tour's Race To Dubai following his runner-up finish at last weekend's UBS Hong Kong Open. The Dubai World Championship starts this week, and McIlroy leads the impressive field that will include Lee Westwood, Ross Fisher and Geoff Ogilvy.

And that's not all. McIlroy now stands at 13th in the world rankings, the highest of his career. He's hitting new highs every week, also now leading the European Ryder Cup standings. 

McIlroy's getting to where he is based on talent, but I'm betting he'll stay based on the way he's been brought along -- slowly, with a minimum of hype and hoopla generated by his own camp. (Unlike some other golf prodigies we could name, McIlroy has a support system in place that appears dedicated to his on-course success, not creating Rory McIlroy Inc.)

And others are taking interest in his success, too. Earlier this year, Tiger Woods declined to play a practice round with McIlroy at Augusta, but not from arrogance -- no, Tiger wanted Rory to learn the course without the swelling monstrosity of a gallery that would follow Tiger anywhere. It was one of many protective moves, and it's one of the reasons he was one of the few golfers to make the cuts in all four majors this year. (He recorded top-10 finishes in both the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship.) And now he's about to break worldwide -- but it sure seems like he's ready.

I'm not going to break out the "next Tiger" tag, because that thing's tattered and worn and ugly and it never really fit anybody anyway. I will say that of all the post-Tiger generation of golfers -- Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott, Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas, and so on -- Rory McIlroy has impressed me the most in the short amount of time I've seen him at work. This kid's got majors in his future -- and perhaps a monster paycheck even closer than that.

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• Good beginning for Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood at the UBS Hong Kong Open as they battle for the Race for Dubai lead. [PGA.com]

• And over in Australia, Tiger posted a first-round 66 in the Australian Masters. It's cool if you didn't hear about it; hasn't been much in the news lately. [AP via Yahoo! Sports]

• In honor of Veterans Day, a post on a nine-hole golf course meant for veterans only. Jack Nicklaus is reportedly designing the next nine. [Links Life]

• Anthony Kim won the Kiwi Challenge over Sean O'Hair even though Kim bogeyed a playoff hole. Man, I just cannot keep up with all these wacky little overseas tourneys. [PGA.com]

• Getting to know new LPGA Mike Whan ... or not. These profiles are all kinda the same, and I'm not sure we can blame the writers for that. [Golfweek]

• Adam Scott may end up giving up the European Tour in order to focus on the U.S. Tour. Whatever works there, my man, whatever works. [Golf Channel]

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• Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are capturing most of the headlines in Asia, but there are other guys playing in the event too. Guys like Nick Watney, who shot a course-record-tying 64 to take the Day 1 lead at the HSBC Champions. [PGA.com]

• Michelle Wie will wrap her season at the last Ladies European Tour event of 2009. Can she nab that elusive win in her first season on Tour? [AP via Yahoo! Sports]

• There are only 13 definitive events on the LPGA slate for 2010? Really? Uh-oh. [Golfweek]

• Anthony Kim won't be going to the Dubai World Championships after all, even though he's qualified to take a shot at the $7.5 million bonus pool. [The Golf Channel]

• Cristie Kerr, lookin' good on the cover of VIVmag. [Armchair Golfer]

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We golf fans aren't ever satisfied, are we? We've got one of the greatest players in history right here in front of us, and all we can think is, who's going to be the next Tiger? From Ty Tryon to Charles Howell III to Sergio Garcia to Adam Scott to Anthony Kim to Rory McIlroy, we've had a parade of Next Tigers lining up to take the king's throne. Same thing has happened in the NBA, with everyone from Kobe Bryant and LeBron James to Anfernee Hardaway and Harold Miner (yes, really) anointed as the "Next Michael Jordan." (The same thing probably would happen in swimming if anybody cared about Michael Phelps more than once every four years.)

Now, fair or not, Rickie Fowler has added his name to that dubious Next-Tiger list. Acing a hole on the final day of one of your first tournaments, and forcing your way into a playoff in that same tourney, will do that for you. (Or, should I say, to you.) As my man Shane Bacon of Dogs That Chase Cars noted, the Golf Channel announcers nearly wet themselves with excitement at Fowler. Which is fine and dandy for the course of a tournament, but it gets kind of disturbing if this kind of fawning becomes standard operating procedure. (See: Vitale, Dick.)

Over at ESPN.com, Jason Sobel makes a very good point as to why we shouldn't go crowning Fowler, or his fellow playoff rookie Jamie Lovemark, as the next great golfer. This is a cruel, capricious game, and a guy who's riding high one day can get shot down the next. (Well, except for you-know-who.) Just take a look at that list of Next Tigers above. Except for McIlroy, who we don't yet know enough about, every single one of them has displayed significant, often career-wrecking, weaknesses in his game.

We don't know enough about Fowler to predict with anything approaching certainty that he'll go either high or low, but for the short term, he'll be just fine. He'll be playing in the next two tournaments with some serious incentive -- earn about $100,000 to put himself in the top 125 on the money list (he currently sits at No. 145) and leapfrog Q School to get onto the PGA Tour next year. That's enough of a fire under him that we'll see exactly how he performs under pressure ... and probably not for the last time, either.

It's a testament to how weird this golf season has been that the winner of the U.S. Open isn't a slam-dunk to make the Presidents Cup team, and a guy who's won two tournaments this year might be on the outside looking in.

The Presidents Cup is the feistier, more exotic sister to the Ryder Cup, a competition pitting the United States against a team of international players from everywhere but Europe. It's a little less competitive than the Ryder -- the U.S. has not lost the Cup since 1998. Fred Couples is captaining the American squad, while Greg Norman helms the International armada. Both captains have two more picks to add to the existing rosters of ten players each.

Here's your U.S. slate:
Tiger Woods
Phil Mickelson
Steve Stricker
Kenny Perry
Zach Johnson
Stewart Cink
Sean O'Hair
Jim Furyk
Anthony Kim
Justin Leonard

The American roster was based on earnings for the past two years, doubling the amount of 2009 earnings. Couples has already said one of his picks will be Hunter Mahan, leaving only one spot available for Open winner Glover, two-time 2009 winner Brian Gay, Nick Watney, Dustin Johnson or any other player.

The International team comes from the world rankings, and consists of the following players:
Geoff Ogilvy
Vijay Singh
Camilo Villegas
Retief Goosen
Ernie Els
Angel Cabrera
Mike Weir
Robert Allenby
Y.E. Yang
Tim Clark

Yang played his way onto the squad with his victory. Norman has given no indication of his captain's picks, but one potential player -- Adam Scott -- has almost certainly played himself out of contention. Yang bounced Rory Sabbatini from the tenth spot; Norman could also consider Jeev Milka Singh or Shingo Katayama.

The Presidents Cup takes place Oct. 8-11 in San Francisco. Place your bets now!

Yang, O'Hair get first "Cup" experience [AP via Yahoo! Sports]