RORY MCILROY
the highest-paid sports stars in the world, but in his first tournament as a Nike athlete, and with new clubs, he missed the cut. Was there a problem here? “I wouldn’t look too much into that. If anything, it’s more the Indian than the arrow at this point,” said a typically candid Mcilroy.
He was in a different world now, one where everything he said and did was analysed to the nth degree. In March, he walked off the course after just eight holes of his second round at the Honda Classic, telling journalists he was not in a good frame of mind. He later released a statement citing a painful wisdom tooth. It was largely a season to forget. He’d been built up, but now he was taking some knocks. Well, that’s life at the top for you.
In the end, he answered his critics in the best possible way with victory at the Australian Open. “It has been a frustrating year, but I have worked hard,” he said. “It has been a process, getting back to winning tournaments again.” It would have been perfectly understandable had he put a finger to his lips as a message to his critics. He didn’t. A puff of the cheeks said it all.
It was a sign of things to come, too. The following May, he triumphed at
Wentworth. It wasn’t your run-of-the-mill victory, either, not that Mcilroy deals in such affairs. Coming from seven shots behind on the final day – and still dealing with the high-profile split from fiancee Caroline Wozniacki – he fired a 66 to win the BMW PGA Championship by one. We had our Rory back and all was well again.
In July, he was back on the Major trail. The Open was the one many believed he would struggle to win, with his high ball flight and attacking style unlikely to prevail on links layouts. Madness. We should never have doubted him. It wasn’t quite the exhibition Woods had put on eight years previously at Royal Liverpool, but it was no less impressive.
More was to follow. Just two weeks later, success at the WGC