Over excitement at Hazeltine has taught McIlroy to keep some energy in reserve
RYDER CUP
CAST your mind back a couple of years ago and Hazeltine was shuddering and quaking amid a final day cacophony. Most of the racket was being kicked up by Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed as the duo traded blows in a bombastic bout that generated so much electricity it nearly fused the National Grid.
While Reed was vigorously flapping around like a screaming Pterodactyl during a ding-dong singles encounter, McIlroy’s bottled up energy fully exploded with a putt of some 50-feet on the eighth as the Northern Irishman embarked on a vein-throbbing, eye-popping, lung-bursting celebration that had you fearing his skin would be blown off.
“I can’t hear you,” he bawled and gestured to the crowd like some Roman gladiator taunting the Emperor after slaughtering everything on the Colosseum floor. All of this, remember, had taken place on the front nine.
The adrenaline was gushing in torrents and both McIlroy and Reed just about had to sign a contract with a lozenge supplier at the turn as they roared themselves hoarse.
McIlroy couldn’t maintain the high-octane assault, though. Reed eventually won by one hole and the USA were on their way to a first Ryder Cup win since 2008. Here in 2018, the events of Hazeltine still resonate. But they also educate.
Displaying all that fist-pumping vitality in golf’s most intense, all-consuming environment is one thing. Harnessing it is another.
“I look back at those videos of that Ryder Cup and I was surprised I had a voice left at the end of week,” reflected McIlroy. “It actually looked tiring to have to play golf like that so I think I learned a lot from that week.
‘‘ I hit a wall on that back nine on Sunday, and it cost me
“I could play like that for nine holes but then it suddenly hit. It reached a crescendo on the eighth green and the level sort of declined after that.
“The last 10 holes were not as good. I learned that it’s good to get excited but at the same time, if I need to be called upon to play a late match on Sunday, I want to have all my energy in reserve so that I can give everything for 18 holes. I did hit a wall on that back nine on Sunday … and it cost me.”
McIlroy will be hoping Team Europe are not counting the cost come Sunday night as they try to wrest back that little gold chalice from American clutches.
At the age of just 29, this will be McIlroy’s fifth Ryder Cup appearance. When that particular statistic was put to him, the four-time major winner gave an expressive puff of the cheeks as if to underline the passing of the years.
Some of the more seasoned golf writers, who have been covering this biennial battle since Henry Cotton was around, could empathise.
McIlroy comes into the contest having been left in the shadow of playing partner Tiger Woods during the final round of the Tour Championship in Atlanta last Sunday. Not for the first time this season, his killer instinct was brought into question as he slithered out of the running on a disappointing day for McIlroy.
Asked bluntly if there was a sense of intimidation amid the resurgent Tiger tumult, with a wry grin McIlroy said: “That East Lake rough was really tough, that was the most intimidating thing about it.”
“I started hitting drives