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19th Hole

Should we applaud or condemn Rory McIlroy’s attitude?

Published

6 years ago

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As mentioned briefly in the Morning 9, Rory McIlroy spoke candidly about his pursuit of major glory.

Now 29 years old, McIlroy won the most recent of his four majors at the 2014 PGA Championship.

However, he seems at peace with his place in the game (and the world).

“Nothing is going to change in my life whether I win a major or not,” said McIlroy ahead of the Irish Open. “I’d be disappointed if I didn’t but I don’t panic. It doesn’t keep me up at night.”

“Look, if I didn’t win another major for the rest of my career, nothing is going to change in my life whether I win one or not, but obviously I don’t feel like I’ll have fulfilled my potential.”

Clearly, this is a healthy orientation with respect to one’s career, isn’t it? Have goals. Work toward them. But don’t let your career define you or dictate your happiness. That said, it’s a surprising admission from a top-tier professional athlete.

He continued in the same vein.

“But at the same time, you know, there’s other things in my life that are more important than golf….I’d be disappointed but again, it’s not going to change things. I don’t panic. It doesn’t keep me up at night.”

We assume too, that how much a player wants to win, thinks about winning, cares about winning dictates how much he does win (to a degree). We assume that anything resembling a blase attitude means a player isn’t practicing, isn’t leaving it all on the court.

But is this true? McIlroy seems to think that winning majors is all about putting yourself in position, and that’s what he aims to do.

“I’ve got two more chances this year to hopefully play myself into contention. That was my goal… to give myself a chance and to put myself in positions to see how I fare.”

That’s an attitude that is somewhat different than Tiger Woods’ historic, “I’m here to win,” orientation.

That said, you certainly can’t the man in the video below doesn’t have a killer instinct.

McIlroy’s formula for winning another major is interesting.

“You take way more risks when you’re a teenager… I just need to get back to playing the game like I was a teenager. Not be careful, not try to be too perfect. Not try to control things that you can’t control. Just go out and play your game..That’s the one thing that I need to do better and it’s more a mental thing rather than anything physical or anything. I just have to approach it better mentally.”

The approach above is probably pretty similar to how Rory plays the Ryder Cup–an event that obviously fires him up, where pins are more accessible and, because of formats, players are encouraged to take dead aim, as the worst-case scenario is merely losing a hole.

Plenty will drag the Ulsterman for his admissions, but ultimately, should we? Do we want our golfing superstars to be miserable unless they’re winning major championships? Is there some nobility and that orientation? Is there any reason to assume McIlroy is putting in less practice work and preparation than he was earlier in his career now that he’s a happily married man with a foundation and business interests?

Let us know what you think, GolfWRX members.

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19th Hole

Brandel Chamblee has a surprising new take on the PGA Tour-LIV stand-off

Published

1 day ago

on

May 10, 2024

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One of the more outspoken analysts throughout the LIV Golf vs. PGA Tour saga has been Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee.

This week, Chamblee reversed course, saying he believes the PGA Tour should strike a deal with Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund (PIF).

“The PGA Tour is in this pickle like it or not, but, do you want to compete with someone who’s not going to go away, who can outspend you”.

“Every move they make that makes their tour better deletes your tour and causes more division within the tour. So the time is now, to Rory’s point about making a deal, I wouldn’t have said that a year ago… but it is the better end of the bargain.”

Chamblee’s new stance seems to be in line with that of Rory McIlroy, who reportedly wanted to rejoin the PGA Tour board with hopes of pushing a deal with the PIF closer to the finish line.

Chamblee will be in the booth for next week’s PGA Championship which has 16 LIV players in the field.

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19th Hole

Xander Schauffele explains free drop ruling during round one of Wells Fargo Championship

Published

1 day ago

on

May 10, 2024

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During Thursday’s opening round of the Wells Fargo Championship, Xander Schauffele blasted his tee shot in the woods to the right of the fairway on the par-4 8th hole.

The ball was almost not found, but Xander’s group managed to track it down just before the three-minute time limit was reached.

When the ball was found, it was just beyond the penalty area close to a fence. In the moment, it seemed incredibly unlikely that Schauffele would be able to hit the ball through the trees towards the green.

However, through the woods and above the fairway, there was a hanging wire from a ShotLink tower that Xander claimed was in his way. He was then granted relief, and two club lengths from the spot positioned him all the way out of trouble. He played his ball onto the front of the green and two-putted for par.

Here is the full video of the interaction between Schauffele and the rules official.

After the round, Xander said he “got really lucky.”

“Got really lucky multiple times, on 1 with Wyndham finding it, 2, being able to move the rocks, and 3, the ShotLink tower being in like my only shot line possible. To walk out there with sort of a no breeze 4 with what I thought was almost out was a really good break.”

“Yeah, I hit it in the trees. My ball was probably like a foot, two feet from the fence. If I — ball was here, fence was kind of here, hitting back this direction.

“If I went towards the green, the fence kind of worked this way so I had what I could hit, a 4-iron or something low and just kind of run it through. If it gets stuck, I’ll just kind of hit my next one out. But I brought the rules official in there with me because I was like, you’ve got to be OK with this because this is literally the only shot I can hit.”

“So Austin [Kaiser] and I moved two massive rocks that weren’t embedded and then I got relief out of the junk and then hit a pretty good shot on the green from there. What was a very stressful moment turned into a pretty stressless par.”

Schauffele finished the round at seven under, which gives him a three-shot lead going into Friday’s second round.

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19th Hole

Report: Tiger Woods voted against Rory McIlroy returning to policy board; Will be the only player negotiating directly with Saudis

Published

2 days ago

on

May 9, 2024

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According to a report from The Telegraph, the relationship between Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy has soured.

Last week, reports surfaced that McIlroy, who was a member of the PGA Tour policy board during most of the past few years, was looking to rejoin the board, presumably taking Webb Simpson’s seat.

However, on Wednesday, McIlroy revealed that he will not be rejoining the policy board, due to people on the board being “uncomfortable” with that “for some reason.”

The Telegraph has reported that Tiger Woods was among the players who voted against McIlroy returning to the policy board.

The divide is apparently due to McIlroy pushing for the game of golf to unify, whereas Woods, reportedly, believes the PGA Tour is in a fine position where it currently stands.

The Associated Press added another wrinkle to the situation, reporting that Woods is the only player who will be negotiating directly with the Saudis.

The other members of the committee are PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, board chairman Joe Gorder, John W. Henry of Fenway Sports Group, and Joe Ogilvie, who was a former PGA Tour player.

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