SUPERMAC IS BACK
Rory’s revving himself up to be Europe’s talisman – so watch out America…
RORy McILROy is working himself up into that frame of mind again. The one where he cups his ears to the crowd. The one where he convinces himself he hates Americans. The one where he loves having a target on his back. The one where he is Europe’s talisman.
Never mind that it’s largely for show and that this time next week he might find himself hosting a barbecue at home in Florida for the likes of Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas. He’s acutely aware that if Europe are to win back the Ryder Cup, then for one week only he needs to turn to the dark arts.
‘At a Ryder Cup you need to get yourself into a mindset where there is a genuine dislike but it’s only for that week,’ he said. ‘It’s sort of like a fake, pseudo animosity. We all play together every week and I live so close to Rickie, Justin, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka. I genuinely like them. For one week, however, they’re not my friends, and I want to go and beat them badly.’
Part of the process is finding the right partner in crime. At Hazeltine two years ago, McIlroy was so impressed with Thomas Pieters, he said he wanted the Belgian to be his Ryder Cup playing partner for the next decade. When Pieters failed to keep his part of the bargain by failing to make this year’s team, no wonder Rory
turned to a Spaniard cut from the same cloth. McIlroy has had Jon Rahm in mind for the role all summer, and he’s had no complaints from his captain, Thomas Bjorn, on that score.
‘Rory plays with who he wants,’ is one of the unspoken axioms of the European team room, and with good reason. If McIlroy doesn’t reach top gear, Europe have no chance of winning the Ryder Cup.
The 29-year- old has been playing in third or fourth gear all year. Most of the time he has played really well but only once has he reached full throttle and gone on to win. Sundays have proved a particular problem. On six occasions he has been out in the final group in the final round and not once has he won.
Rahm might be just the man who frees him up. Like Pieters, the 24-year-old plays Rory-style golf with few concessions to conservatism. It’s the sort of pairing to excite a crowd, which is just what Europe needs and what McIlroy is after as well. It’s the perfect choice to lead Europe out on Friday morning.
This will be McIlroy’s fifth Ryder Cup and his thoughts towards it have certainly come a long way from the early days, when he brashly dismissed the contest as an ‘exhibition’. To be fair, he changed his tone fairly quickly following his debut in 2010, and admitted he was badly mistaken.
At the last match we saw a McIlroy we had never witnessed before, as he took on a hostile crowd with some vocal antics and largely won. In particular, his bow to
the crowd after winning his foursomes alongside Pieters on Friday was one of the highlights of the event.
If there is one man he would desperately like to beat it would be Patrick Reed, who took McIlroy out in the singles at Hazeltine to end any prospect of a European recovery. Again, though, he bears no real animosity.
‘I like Patrick and have a deep respect for his game, mental toughness and his drive,’ he said. ‘I’ve spent enough time around him to know he is one of the good guys and sometimes misunderstood.’
Despite the fact Ian Poulter will be back for Europe and Justin Rose is the new FedEx champion, it is probably still McIlroy the clear majority of the Americans would most like to beat. ‘I don’t mind that, just the opposite in fact,’ said Rory. ‘I like having a target on my back. I embrace that.’
HEADDED: ‘Bring it on. There’s a difference this time as well. At Hazeltine I felt I was a target not only for their team but the crowd. While I like it when you’re up against a wall and you have to produce, it’s going to be so enjoyable when they’re on your side and pulling for you.’
In four Ryder Cups, McIlroy has racked up 11 points already, which is the sort of rate of return that puts him on course to join the legends of this competition such as Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Colin Montgomerie and Lee Westwood.
Now he leads off knowing an inspirational performance in a European victory would put a different complexion on a very humdrum season.
Time, Rory, to dig deep and reach for the dark side.