6 minute read
Year Of Rors
so much has happened in the past year, much less in golf, that it takes a bit of mental dexterity to rewind all the way back to last year’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. ▶ You may recall Rory McIlroy opening the $8 million Rolex Series event with a 64, a classy eight-under romp around The National layout that hinted an end to the Northern Irishman’s inexplicable slump, by then 14 months in the making, was finally nigh.
McIlroy went on to take a one-stroke lead into the final round at Abu Dhabi Golf Club only for a ho-hum 72 to leave him five strokes adrift of eventual champion Tyrrell Hatton.
Fast-forward to late November and McIlroy again seemed poised to win on UAE soil for the first time since his Dubai Desert Classic-DP World Tour Championship (DPWTC) double in 2015.
But as has been his way of late, a comfortable lead for most of the final day evaporated in an uncharacteristic flurry of three bogeys in his final four holes on Earth. While Collin Morikawa was birdieing five of his last seven holes to become the first Race to Dubai winner from America, a seething McIlroy was violently rearranging his wardrobe.
It was viral-worthy fodder for social media and served as an easy visual metaphor for a year when the four-time major champion threatened to go on a tear but will instead be remembered for ripping it up. His polo, that is.
So why will 2022 be any different for the 32-year-old?
For starters, last year wasn’t that bad. With victory in the Wells Fargo Championship in May, McIlroy ended an 18-month winless drought with his 19th PGA Tour title. In October, he parked a forgettable Ryder Cup campaign the previous month by capturing the CJ Cup, impressively overcoming a nine-stroke deficit through 36 holes with weekend scores of 62-66 in Las Vegas. In the process, McIlroy became just the sixth player to win 20 times on the PGA Tour before their 33rd birthday.
Sure, there were more than a few blips too, like a missed cut at The Players and another shot at the career Grand Slam over before the weekend started at Augusta National. Let’s not forget the disappointment of missing out on a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics (after sneaking into a seven-way playoff), nor camouflage his mediocre 1-3-0 record as Europe were humbled 19-9 at the 43rd Ryder Cup matches in September.
The too-ing and fro-ing between coaches (new-ish) Peter Cowen and (old but reinstated) Michael Bannon further muddied the waters although it seems McIlroy reached a tipping point after the tears at Whistling Straits.
Perhaps the game that had got him to world No.1 wasn’t so bad after all? It was a realisation that seemed so obvious to outsiders, yet a trap those who make it to No.1 seem to fall into. Sure, I’m the best in the world but imagine how good I could be if I just make a few little tweaks here and there.
McIlroy spent much of 2020 trying to catch up to swing speed and yard hungry Bryson DeChambeau while the rest of the world wondered why he would even consider tinkering with that already beautifully fluid driver swing, the calling-card of his career.
Thankfully, the first results of McIlroy’s Ryder Cup reckoning were there for all to see at the CJ Cup and for three-quarters of the DPWTC too.
“I’m a big boy now, even if my body is not the same,” he said after an opening 65 at Jumeriah Golf Estates.
“I’ve had injuries and I can’t quite get it into positions that I used to get it into. I’ve been around the block a bit. Still, if I have problems or struggles, I should be able to sort them out myself.
“Instead of looking to others to fix my issues, I’m going to take more responsibility. That’s what I did after the Ryder Cup. I put my head down and spent a lot of time alone on the range. I asked myself, what is it I do well and what do I need to get back to?”
When you win four majors before your 25th birthday to enter golf lore alongside Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, unfeasible expectation invariably follows. McIlroy was morphed from a precociously talented Irishman into a global phenomenon overnight with some even wondering if he might surpass Nicklaus’ tally of 18 majors given his bolt out of the blocks.
Claustrophobic scrutiny ensued. Through it all, McIlroy has remained true to himself and one of golf’s best interviews, willingly taking us all along for the topsy-turvy ride — warts and all. Mixed with a game that is peerless when he’s at his best, it’s hard not to root for Rory.
There’s a reason why he was elected to the chairmanship of the PGA Tour’s influential Player Advisory Council. Simply put, he’s one of the most intelligent, widely respected and historically well-versed players still doing the business inside the ropes. Indeed, if there was one thing that McIlroy achieved in 2021 that deserves credit above all else it was lobbying the game to start binning those infernal green reading-books. Long may those pages, which slow play and rob the game of the almost lost art of green-reading, be consigned to the pages of history. school of hard knocks M cIlroy’s stance on issues impacting the game are considered with a mix of historic reverence and contemporary candidness. It includes a belief the world’s best should be able to play where and pretty much when they want to, even if he has no interest in teeing it up in places such as Saudi Arabia himself.
The last seven, major-less years have undeniably scarred McIlroy but they’ve also matured him. There were more than a few hints of that hardened but not yet fully tempered mental fortitude in 2021, on and off the course. He’s been around so long too that it’s easy to forget that there is still an awful lot of runway left for European golf’s talisman to add to his legacy in the majors. Remember Phil Mickelson was a relatively ancient 50 when he won the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island last May. McIlroy doesn’t turn 33 until May 4 this year.
Before then, he’ll will have another shot at that elusive green jacket but not before starting his year with back-to-back starts in the UAE as part of a Rolex Series headline double-act with Morikawa, the world No.1 in waiting.
McIlroy’s return to the upgraded Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic for the first time since 2018 will be closely scrutinised. Before chasing a third Dallah Trophy on the Majlis, a favourite old hunting ground, he’ll seek the fabled and elusive Falcon trophy on a new course for the DP World Tour but not for McIlroy himself.
Perhaps the switch from Abu Dhabi G.C. to the desert-links of Yas Links will prove the catalyst for McIlroy to finally consign four runner-up finishes and four more third-placed finishes – including last year - in the UAE capital to history.
He teased as much last January. Whatever transpires over the UAE fortnight, you can be sure every round, if not every swing will be analysed with microscopic intensity. Has Rory truly rediscovered the Rory of old? Can he overcome the mental fragility that has crept into his game the past two years? Were the seven years since winning his third and fourth major titles in 2014 - the PGA and Open Championship - just a blip along golf’s turbulent superhighway?
It seems an age since the last Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship but if McIlroy’ can get out of his own way at Yas Links, maybe we’ll get an even more exciting reflection of the year to come.
▶ frustrated McIlroy has gone seven major-less seasons but has the tide finally turned?
