Rory McIlroy - 4 Time Major Winner

Keano

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Can't see why he just wouldn't skip the Scottish instead.

Play Lahinch and then head up to Portrush for full weeks practice.

He said in the past he felt not playing a competitive round before major's has not been helpful prep. This year he intends on playing a tournament the week before every major.

PokeHerKing

First Up wrote:

Did you notice the word "Irish" in there by any chance?

Yes, it's there to distinguish between it and the (British) Open.

First Up wrote:

The Open Championship is the Open Championship.

Agreed.

PokeHerKing

Seve OB wrote:

it is also a fact that Rory is Irish

Not according to Rory.

Keano

PokeHerKing wrote: »

Not according to Rory.

Don't post in this thread again before you read the charter. Last warning

slave1

slave1 wrote: »

Quite simply Rory should take a long look at Padraig, especially coming up to the next RC and learn how to present himself to the populous

Keano wrote: »

I see what you are getting at but Rory is doing what he thinks he is best for him, like no doubt Harrington has done for his career.

Oh, I'm perfectly fine with the decision, it's his manner.
Rory is just becoming annoying through a thousand cuts, whereas the press/media/spectators/fellow professionals all have (from my perspective) nothing but good things to say about Padraig.

Actually, I could put it another way...
I would say that in a week off Padraig could head out some morning and look forward to a casual round and enjoy it, that's what his persona portrays.
IMHO I don't think Rory would gather anywhere near the same enjoyment out of a casual round i.e. just play a round for fun, and this is core to his slow road to being a knob (and I don't think he's near there yet but getting there slowly....)

Keano

They are two different people for sure.

Rory said in a recent podcast with No Laying Up that he does play casual rounds with Rickie, Justin Thomas etc so he does have that side to him.

Looking forward to round 2. It is intriguing to see the variation in scores from round 1 with such a quality of field. Looks like the type of course where you need to be accurate off the tee or it is very easy to make a run of bogies.

Not for the faint hearted.

Joe_ Public

Harrington’s a great fellow, doubt many would disagree with that. Measuring a golfer up to that seems a bit like knocking a politician simply because he isn’t Bobby Kennedy.

Early on his career there was definitely a joie de vivre about rory that doesn’t seem so prominent now. He had his home near Belfast, hung around a lot with the ulster rugby boys, seemed to be determined not to let super stardom get in the way of enjoying that simple life. Of course it wasn’t possible. Made mistakes for sure, but not many - Harrington included - have to deal with the pressures he did.

started with a birdie and has drove the par 4 2nd hole also

FixdePitchmark

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Harrington’s a great fellow, doubt many would disagree with that. Measuring a golfer up to that seems a bit like knocking a politician simply because he isn’t Bobby Kennedy.

Early on his career there was definitely a joie de vivre about rory that doesn’t seem so prominent now. He had his home near Belfast, hung around a lot with the ulster rugby boys, seemed to be determined not to let super stardom get in the way of enjoying that simple life. Of course it wasn’t possible. Made mistakes for sure, but not many - Harrington included - have to deal with the pressures he did.

Lucky he got out of the Ulster Rugby scene.

FixdePitchmark

slave1 wrote: »

his slow road to being a knob

:p:p:D:D:D

FixdePitchmark

I don't think this about his nationality - but a fair few posts there about people trying to understand who Rory McIlroy is.

People will say - it is none of our business , why do you care ?

I suppose if you love sport and golf - you love a deeper insight into what makes a person tick. I like to see this in most people - not just sports stars.

You buy the autobiography , If you turn on Newstalk now , there will be someone who can give you a deeper insight into what the person is about. I mean, I'd buy the indo for a Kimmage interview alone. One on Lowry for example.

But , its rare you get any insights these days - they have all learnt to avoid and control their media output.
Rory oddly enough entered the world , with a refreshing honesty and a brilliant Naivety.

Where a person is from is fairly fundamental to who they are and what motivates them. For all the years of knowing Rory we know very little about him.

At one stage he looked like he was going to join the long list of Northern Ireland stars of underachievers - he is still on that edge.
He has 4 majors - crazy to say that he could be considered an underachiever. But he has only tried for about 1/2 of his adult career. He could easily have double the number of majors already.

He seemed burnt out way too early in life - I mean 25/26. Very strange stuff.

He seems in a good place now and hopefully we are talking about him for his golf - and not the long list of excuses and stories that most turned out to be bull**** from him in the end.

I would add - he looks like a pro who has fallen out of love with the game a long time ago. He has so many hours on the clock. But look at the likes of Phil / Tiger / Padraig / Ells they still love golf.

It is just easier to like a pro who loves the game and laughs at it. Because as amateurs that is why we play it.

Keano

Hardly can consider him an underachiever Fixed...

FixdePitchmark

Keano wrote: »

Hardly can consider him an underachiever Fixed...

for his talent - he is (IMO)

he has been Cut 4 times in his last 12 majors.

He has 1 2nd in a major in 4 years. It is a fairly shocking period for a guy of his talent. It isn't just bad form when it is 4 years.

Yes this year he will turn it around (we hope). But we can't but be disappointed with that major record.

FixdePitchmark

Did I just hear that he is openly working with people - Faxon and Rotella. :eek:


Imagine the Rotella session was fairly interesting.

Ok Rory - tell us what it was like when you were young.

"Well I loved the game - and had a 61 at Royal Portrush"
"61 on a links"

"yes game was easy then"

"You said recently that the Open doesn't suit your game"

"the mind is a funny thing Bob"


Anyway - good to hear.

Majors on the way this year.


jaysus - he just missed a putt horribly :D:D:D

Dav010

A bad 4 putt, this is where we see if his mental strength/attitude has improved. If he gets it going again, responds with a few birdies, things are looking up. But history shows that a stumble like this all to often turns into a malaise for the rest of the round. Time for a good caddy to lift the spirits.

HighLine

https://twitter.com/WestwoodLee/status/1099081114428325888

Fair play to Westwood I know they are buddies but it needed saying.

The only down side is Curtis gets the attention and hits after so it's worth it to him in the end

A sad sign of the times of what journalism is

slave1

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

for his talent - he is (IMO)

he has been Cut 4 times in his last 12 majors.

He has 1 2nd in a major in 4 years. It is a fairly shocking period for a guy of his talent. It isn't just bad form when it is 4 years.

Yes this year he will turn it around (we hope). But we can't but be disappointed with that major record.

This, relatively is the key perspective, Rory oozes talent and is one of few unbeatable when in the zone, his recent years are just shocking relative to his talent.
There’s nothing better than watching Rory off the tee with protracer, his irons this week have been at the same level for the first 27holes but last night something twigged and he’s slipping, dare we say it another 4/5/6/7th finish....

detones

5 years ago Rory “ at his best “ was unbeatable. Today his best just makes him competitive, the rest of the field have caught up and in a few cases surpsssed him. Rory is an intriguing character to follow. On the one hand he can be refreshingly honest than there’s cases where you can’t believe a word out of his mouth. He can be humble and modest at times, then on occasion comes across as cocky, petulant and obnoxious. I do agree with others on him underachieving too in a tigerless period where he should have scooped up closer to 10 majors.

Hitch2222

detones wrote: »

5 years ago Rory “ at his best “ was unbeatable. Today his best just makes him competitive, the rest of the field have caught up and in a few cases surpsssed him. Rory is an intriguing character to follow. On the one hand he can be refreshingly honest than there’s cases where you can’t believe a word out of his mouth. He can be humble and modest at times, then on occasion comes across as cocky, petulant and obnoxious. I do agree with others on him underachieving too in a tigerless period where he should have scooped up closer to 10 majors.

Do you think Rory plays "at his best" consistently now?

Dav010

Hitch2222 wrote: »

Do you think Rory plays "at his best" consistently now?

I think this is his “best”. Mercurial is the word often used. When he is “in the zone” he looks like Tiger used to, as if he is playing a different game to the others in the field. But it is fleeting, a great round followed or preceeded by average/poor round. To me, he never looks like he can recover from a couple of bad shots and get going again, it’s as if he loses focus and accepts it is not going to be his day.

detones

Hitch2222 wrote: »

Do you think Rory plays "at his best" consistently now?

No not at all, what I was getting at was when he does play at his best on occasion in recent months/years he’s no longer way better than the rest of the field.

Hitch2222

Dav010 wrote: »

I think this is his “best”. Mercurial is the word often used. When he is “in the zone” he looks like Tiger used to, as if he is playing a different game to the others in the field. But it is fleeting, a great round followed or preceeded by average/poor round. To me, he never looks like he can recover from a couple of bad shots and get going again, it’s as if he loses focus and accepts it is not going to be his day.

When I said "now", I didn't mean this weekend, more generally this point of his career.
My point was going to be that I don't think it's a reach to say that a Top 10 golfer is quite close to the definition of competitive.
If the OP believes that Rory must play at his best to be competitive as suggested then he must believe Rory plays at his best almost all of time, given he consistently maintains his Top 10 ranking (and of 2017 he was 11th).

Given that we can all likely agree that Rory often has appeared in recent times not to have achieved the heights of which he's capable. Therefore I think it is quite clear he does not need to "at his best" to be competitive.

I think the gap has narrowed and perhaps even some players A-game is on par or better but I think it's ridiculous to think that Rory must play his best simply to compete.

GreeBo

Hitch2222 wrote: »

When I said "now", I didn't mean this weekend, more generally this point of his career.
My point was going to be that I don't think it's a reach to say that a Top 10 golfer is quite close to the definition of competitive.
If the OP believes that Rory must play at his best to be competitive as suggested then he must believe Rory plays at his best almost all of time, given he consistently maintains his Top 10 ranking (and of 2017 he was 11th).

Given that we can all likely agree that Rory often has appeared in recent times not to have achieved the heights of which he's capable. Therefore I think it is quite clear he does not need to "at his best" to be competitive.

I think the gap has narrowed and perhaps even some players A-game is on par or better but I think it's ridiculous to think that Rory must play his best simply to compete.

Why about Luke Donald though?
Ranking is based on consistency, Rory is frequently top 10 without ever looking like winning.

TCM

Same old, same old Rory. 4 putting the 9th. OMG.

Hitch2222

GreeBo wrote: »

Why about Luke Donald though?
Ranking is based on consistency, Rory is frequently top 10 without ever looking like winning.

Yes?? So he's consistently competitive in order to retain that ranking? Does maintaining a Top 10 ranking not serve as decent proxy for competitiveness?

OP suggested he needed to play at his best to be competitive. I tend to completely disagree because I like many others can see that Rory clearly has the capacity to achieve more. So if we can see that then clearly Rory doesn't need to play "at his best" to be competitive, he's extremely competitive without reach those heights.

Dav010

Hitch2222 wrote: »

When I said "now", I didn't mean this weekend, more generally this point of his career.
My point was going to be that I don't think it's a reach to say that a Top 10 golfer is quite close to the definition of competitive.
If the OP believes that Rory must play at his best to be competitive as suggested then he must believe Rory plays at his best almost all of time, given he consistently maintains his Top 10 ranking (and of 2017 he was 11th).

Given that we can all likely agree that Rory often has appeared in recent times not to have achieved the heights of which he's capable. Therefore I think it is quite clear he does not need to "at his best" to be competitive.

I think the gap has narrowed and perhaps even some players A-game is on par or better but I think it's ridiculous to think that Rory must play his best simply to compete.

Elite golfers want to win, being competitive is just the minimum requirement. You could say that every golf in the top 5 of a tournament is competitive, that doesn’t mean they ever looked like winning. To the top golfers, wins are their currency, I doubt they care too much anymore about the money for coming 2nd.

Hitch2222

Dav010 wrote: »

Elite golfers want to win, being competitive is just the minimum requirement. You could say that every golf in the top 5 of a tournament is competitive, that doesn’t mean they ever looked like winning. To the top golfers, wins are their currency, I doubt they care too much anymore about the money for coming 2nd.

Ok, I'm not suggesting any of the above is not true. I'm simply highlighting that Rory at his best is more than competitive.
If we agree that Top 10 in the world is a relatively decent proxy for consistent competitiveness while we can all see that Rory still isn't performing to the heights we know he can then obviously Rory doesn't need to be "at his best" to be competitive.

Kevin Finnerty

Anyone see that one putt he had for birdie? Wowzers!