Mcilroy eyes a return to glory days
WHEN the scrutiny becomes suffocating, it is a good time for Rory McIlroy to get as far away as he can.
So he went to a practice range on a public course. Imagine the surprise of the paying customer at Miami Municipal Golf Course a few weeks ago who looked over to his left and saw McIlroy plop down a carry bag.
“Why was that such a big deal?” McIlroy, the No 1-ranked golfer and two-time champion, asked with a mixture of amazement and bemusement.
This was yesterday at the Houston Open, where morning frost had caused a two-hour delay in the pro-am. Instead of retreating to the clubhouse dining room at Redstone Golf Club to order from the omelette station, McIlroy found a spare booth in the caddie trailer, where the fare ranged from scrambled eggs to peanut butter on toast. Just one of the lads. He made the cut on the number last week — his first cut against a full field this year — and was making a run up the leader board in the third round when he three-putted for bogey from five feet on the par-five 13th hole.
McIlroy dropped two more shots and returned towards the bottom of the pack.
After lunch, it was back to work. He could have sought privacy at the far end of the range. Instead, he set up shop in front of a grandstand where 30 people took a seat to watch. Tom Gillis, a runner-up to McIlroy a year ago at the Honda Classic, came over and gave Boy Wonder a playful push.
There were more smiles than sweat in this practice session.
McIlroy was hitting a driver towards the end, picking out a barren tree on the horizon as a target for his draw. He was getting dialled in when caddie JP Fitzgerald said: “End it with a good one.” The shape looked to be perfect and the caddie said “Beautiful.”
McIlroy walked over to the railing where a dozen kids had gathered, took out a pen and began signing. One of them was a photo of McIlroy posing with the US Open trophy from Congressional, brown curls spilling out from under his cap.
“I can’t believe I looked like this,” he said. His hair is much shorter now. He is more grown up. He turns 24 next month. This is the state of McIlroy. He tied for 45th in the Houston Open, and while that would normally be considered a pedestrian week, he considers it progress. He signed up for the Texas Open this week, wanting more competition before going to the Masters. Perhaps more telling was how much happier he looked than in recent weeks.
That was not the case at the start of the year.
McIlroy is no stranger to attention, and he brought that on himself: winning the US Open with a record score; a relationship with tennis star Caroline Wozniacki; winning the PGA Championship by a record eight shots; climbing to No 1 in the world, and then winning three more tournaments against the strongest fields, all made it look as if the kid would stay on top for years to come.
And yes, the Nike deal. With blaring music and a laser show in Abu Dhabi, he was introduced as the latest global star to market the swoosh. Then, he slumped.
That is not unusual for McIlroy, except the expectations have never been this great. A year ago, there was one stretch when he missed the cut in four of five tournaments, the last as defending champion at the US Open.
This year, he missed the cut in Abu Dhabi, lost in the first round of Match Play, and quit out of frustration after 27 holes of the Honda Classic.
In Houston, his shoulders never sagged even as he was on the verge of another weekend off. “I learned from the last few weeks that I’ve got to keep my spirits up. There’s no point in getting down on yourself,” McIlroy said. “I felt like I was doing that a bit too much at the Match Play and Honda, and you saw what happened there.”
Asked what will be written about him at the end of the year, a smiling McIlroy said: “Hopefully, the same things that were written about me at the end of last year.”
There is a phrase back home in Northern Ireland that goes, “Catch yourself on,” which loosely translated means wise up or don’t get a big head. McIlroy concedes that has been put to the test this year. Sapa-AP