Let me start by saying that I have two daughters and if both
were in the dating scene, I would totally approve of Rory McIlroy as a
potential suitor. The young Irishman turns 24 years old in May and it would
appear that he has life in his cross hairs as he sits atop the Number One spot
in the World Golf Rankings.
SportsPro has
rated McIlroy as the second most marketable athlete in the world while the Golf
Club Managers’ Association ranked him as the second most powerful person in
British golf. Unfortunately, for any single woman out there who yearns for
McIlroy, he has been dating Danish tennis star Caroline Wozniacki since 2011.
Last year at the age of 23, McIlroy already had two record
setting major championships under his belt. He won the 2011 U.S. Open and the
2012 PGA Championship by the largest margins of victory in the history of these
two majors. A year ago he was the leading money winner on the PGA TOUR with
over $8 million in earnings. In addition, McIlroy won over $5 million pounds on
the European Tour. Rory has set a pretty high bar for kids his age.
In 2012, McIlroy was the PGA TOUR Player of the Year, the Byron
Nelson Award winner, the European Tour Order of Merit winner and he was named
the European Tour Golfer of the Year. On January 13, McIlroy reaped the harvest
of his recent efforts by signing a 5-year deal with NIKE for an estimated $200
million.
On March 11, as PGA President, it will be my privilege to
present McIlroy with the Vardon Trophy which he earned by having the low stroke
average on TOUR in 2012. Later, on June 3, we will play together at the PGA
Championship Media Day at Oak Hill CC in Rochester, NY. As defending PGA
champion, McIlroy will host our Champions Dinner during Championship week in
August.
Golf can be a fickle game and no one, not even McIlroy, is
exempt from the cruel treatment that the sport can dish up. So far this season,
McIlroy has played in three events. He missed the cut in two and got beat in
the first round of the Accenture Match Play in Tuscon. Things came to a
screeching halt for him last Friday at the Honda Classic where he walked off
the 8th hole when he was seven over par.
“I’m outta here,” he proclaimed to Ernie Els and Mark
Wilson, his two playing partners.
McIlroy was asked three times by reporters if a physical
problem had forced his early exit. Each time he responded, “No, I’m not in a
good place mentally.”
Then the story changed to a sore wisdom tooth, before a
picture was released of him munching a sandwich moments before he headed for
the parking lot. The night before, McIlroy had tweeted pictures from a birthday
dinner for his Mum with the rest of his family.
Tiger Woods offered this advice, “He’s got to be more…. just
got to think about it a little bit more before you say something or do
something.”
McIlroy’s great friend and fellow Irish major champion
Graeme McDowell summed it up best. “When you start trying to prove things to
other people and you stop playing for yourself it is a very dangerous place to
be. He is playing more to prove things to the media, playing to the naysayers
and people who say he shouldn’t have done what he has done.
“To me it is not equipment, it’s all technique and a little
bit of belief. To me he is not swinging the club the way he was late summer
last year,” added McDowell. “But he will be okay. Once he starts believing in
himself again he will be back.”
NIKE officials have to be a bit nervous. McIlroy has already
switched from their putter back to a Titleist Scotty Cameron model after just
one competitive round in January. Over the years, many professional Tour
players have taken the bucks and switched clubs. It hasn’t always worked out so
well. Who knows what demons have settled between Rory’s ears- if any?
In fairness to McIlroy, his illustrious career has not been
filled with much controversy. He described the Ryder Cup as “an exhibition” in
May 2009. The following year, McIlroy said he regretted his comments and said
that the Ryder Cup is “definitely not an exhibition.” Later in 2010, he
answered a media question regarding Tiger Woods potential of being a captain’s
pick in the Ryder Cup by saying any member of the European Team would “fancy
his chances against him.”
In 2011, following a poor showing in the Open Championship
he told the media that he was “not a fan of golf tournaments that are predicted
so much by weather” and added he would “rather play when it’s 80 degrees and sunny
and not much wind.” These comments drew the ire of the British press.
This is all of the controversy you can dig up on the Irish
kid with the black hair resembling an inverted bird’s nest, hidden by his
swoosh hat each week. Seriously, that’s it?
McIlroy is a Roman Catholic. Despite growing up in a small
Irish village in County Down, he carries a British passport. His great uncle
was killed by the Ulster Volunteer Force in a sectarian attack at his east
Belfast home in 1972. McIlroy’s main sporting passion outside of golf is for
the Ulster Rugby Team. He often interrupts his bust golfing schedule to attend
matches at Belfast. He is frequently accompanied at Tour events by his father,
Gerry.
Despite his recent misfortunes, McIlroy still retains his
Number One World Golf Ranking. He is scheduled to play in only two events
before The Masters and is woefully short of competition as he is form. He has
finished just 62 stroke play holes in more than three months.
He recently purchased a $10 million home near The Bear’s
Club in Jupiter, FL. That is where he will try to resurrect his golf game in
the next few weeks before heading to Augusta. My guess is that he will be ready
when he makes the quest north in search for a Green Jacket.
McIlroy’s biggest problem? He is so well liked, so revered
that people want to see him succeed. Golf needs him to be the sport’s next
icon. It’s a lot of pressure on a 23-year old. This Irish kid is 5’9 and 160
pounds. There is not a bad bone in his diminutive body. He possesses the heart of a lion. He has proven that he knows where
the jugular is and he is not afraid to put his spikes on it. Rory will roar
again.
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