Rory McIlroy is as confident as he’s been all year,
Defending champion Mcilroy struggling, but youth on his side
ROCHESTER, N.Y. Rory McIlroy already has agents, but he could do worse than engage Ian Poulter’s services.
“Yeah, give him a break,” Poulter said Wednesday when asked his opinion of the constant scrutiny and criticism McIlroy has faced this year.
Keep in mind that McIlroy remains No. 3 in the world rankings, but 2013 has been a season unlike anything expected of the 24-year-old Northern Irishman, who at this time last year made the PGA Championship his second major title.
A megabucks endorsement deal that involved switching to Nike equipment followed, but the payoff has been less stellar: missed cuts in all four European Tour events he has played, including the Open Championship; only four top10 finishes and earnings of about $1.5 million US in 10 PGA Tour starts, including a roundly condemned midround withdrawal during the Honda Classic in March.
Pish-posh, or something like that, Poulter opined.
“You know, I think sometimes we forget how young he is and what he has been able to achieve at a very early age,” said the 37-year-old Englishman, who has two fewer major championships on his resumé than McIlroy.
“So, the second he feels comfortable again, whether that’s with his swing or equipment or whatever it is, then, you know, Rory will be winning golf tournaments.
“That natural swing of his doesn’t just disappear overnight, and I think he has had to cope with an awful lot of things and changes that he has had in the last 10 months, and it’s not just equipment and it’s not just media.”
The young man himself was at his scrambling best during his own pre-tournament media session, when he disclosed he had watched video of last year’s PGA Championship at Kiawah Island and other successful tournaments to put some of that long-lost confident spring back in his step.
He endured Wednesday’s interrogation with a smile, though, and was relaxed enough to show off a new ’do under his Nike-approved hat — short on the sides and back, still thick and curly on top — and to chat about the past champions’ dinner on Tuesday.
As defending champ, McIlroy picked the menu: goat’s cheese and beet root salad, Irish beef tenderloin and sticky toffee pudding. “It was good, it was nice,” he said. “Everyone definitely enjoyed the last two courses. I don’t know how the appetizer went down.”
Seriously, though, McIlroy said the equipment change might have been a factor at the start of the year, but it was no longer valid eight months into the season.
Based on his comments, it sounded as if he was talking about “playing golf swing,” not “playing golf.”
“Every time you play and you don’t play well, it sort of chips away at your confidence a little bit, and it’s just about building that back up,” McIlroy said. “But I’m sitting here as confident as I have been all year, so I’m looking forward to getting going this week.”
That represented a change in state of mind from a month ago, when McIlroy missed the cut in the Open at Muirfield, Scotland.
He talked then about not being in a good place mentally and mused about consulting noted sports psychologist Bob Rotella.
It hasn’t happened and probably wouldn’t, McIlroy said, because he believed he could figure it out on his own.
His only regret about all that he had done and all that had happened since becoming PGA champion 12 months ago was that he hadn’t played more tournaments earlier this season.
As for Poulter’s call for fans and media to cut McIlroy extra slack, the scene’s principal actor dodged the issue artfully.
“Should you lay off me? That’s not for me to decide,” McIlroy said. “I’m here and I’m answering your questions, and that’s all I can do. It would be nicer just to sit up here, talk about some more positive things, but, the way this year has gone, it’s understandable why I’m not.”
He also spoke glowingly of Tuesday’s dinner, where he winged the after-dinner speech and chatted with past champions ranging from fellow youngsters such as Keegan Bradley and Martin Kaymer to old-timers such as Lee Trevino and Doug Ford, the 1955 winner who turned 91 that day.
“I had a good friend of mine, Harry Diamond, with me, which was cool,” McIlroy said. “He got to meet a few guys that he has never met before, like Tiger ( Woods), and Phil (Mickelson) sat beside us. It was very cool.”
Cool as a new haircut, and that was free.