FIRED-UP RORY HOPING HIS HARD WORK PAYS OFF
BROOKS KOEPKA or Bryson DeChambeau — who do you think Rory McIlroy would rather have a pint with at the 19th hole? With the week of the 149th Open at Royal St George’s upon us and his game seemingly in disarray, it’s fair to assume it’s not a dilemma high on McIlroy’s list of priorities. But, at the launch of a new video platform on Sky Q — called GolfPass, of which Rory is a founder — he was characteristically forthcoming on that left-field query and more orthodox questions regarding the season’s final major. He even summoned up the spirit of American great Sam Snead at one point with a positively bristling response when it was put to him that it must be frustrating being the most naturally gifted talent in the sport but so inconsistent. It used to annoy the hell out of Snead when he was called the most naturally gifted player of his generation. He would snarkily point out that he actually worked from morning until night on the practice range so that his swing appeared so natural. McIlroy was more polite but got his point across forcibly enough. ‘I don’t like the talented tag because it suggests if you are naturally talented you don’t work hard or practice,’ he said. ‘Talent is simply the hard work that you have put in over the years. There is no one in the world of golf who has hit more golf balls than I have. ‘I get where people are coming from but I’ve been playing golf since I was two years old, so that naturally talented thing irks me.’ It’s the sort of feisty attitude McIlroy is going to need during a week that promises to test him to the limit. The last time he was seen at The Open, he was fighting back the tears after missing the halfway cut by one at Royal Portrush in 2019. Now he arrives at St George’s after failing to hit the heights at both the Irish and Scottish Open. McIlroy admitted for the first time that he got his preparations wrong at Portrush, where he opened with a three-iron out of bounds and tumbled to a first-round 78 before responding with a 65. ‘I didn’t approach Portrush the right way in terms of preparing myself to play in that atmosphere in front of those people,’ he said. ‘It was almost as if, once the first round was out of the way, I was unburdened because I was of the mindset: “I can’t win from here”. ‘It’s trying to feel on the opening day how I felt on the second day and there’s mental exercises to
get into that frame of mind.’ At St George’s a decade ago the expectation was off the scale. McIlroy arrived having won the US Open by a country mile at just 22 and was feted with every stride. But he showed his tender years after the final round when he railed against the admittedly tempestuous conditions with some infantile remarks. To be fair, he went away and worked hard to add links-style shots to his game, amassing a fine record of a win at Royal Liverpool in 2014 followed by three successive top-five finishes. Given his current travails, perhaps the fate of fellow Northern Irishman Darren Clarke at Sandwich in 2011 will prove auspicious. Clarke, then aged 42, was much more down in the dumps than McIlroy after also missing the cut at the Scottish Open the previous week. We all remember what happened next. As for the brooding rivals Brooks or Bryson as a drinking partner, you can probably guess. ‘Brooks and I probably have more in common than Bryson and I do,’ said McIlroy. ‘They are two very different characters.’ lRORY McILROY was speaking at the launch of GolfPass on Sky Q. For more information go to sky.com/ GolfPass