Not impressed by Rory McIlroy’s antics
Not impressed by Rory McIlroy’s antics
I’m not sure who I was more disappointed with.
It came when Rory McIlroy deliberately broke a golf club in anger while playing in the Zozo Championship at the Sherwood Country Club in California last month.
The former world No 1 ranked player had hit his third shot into the rough on the right side of the 18th green.
Shortly afterwards McIlroy pushed the neck of his club into the ground and snapped it. He completed the break with his hands. McIlroy then walked down the fairway with the top half of his club in one hand and the bottom half in the other hand.
It was a shameful act and I wondered what the television commentators would say. The commentators, to my disappointment, took a very hands off approach.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Rory snap, but it happens,” one commentator said.
“It just shows you he’s not here for second place; he’s here to win. His expectations are high, and when things go the way they go, he’s human, too.”
He’s here to win?, I repeated to myself in my mind. What sort of excuse is that? Are the others not here to win? Of course not. They’re all here to win.
The commentator then did admit it was not a good look.
“But you know, it’s not a good look when that happens. I guarantee he felt terrible after he did it, but it just shows you that it doesn’t matter how many millions these guys have, how many tournaments they’ve won, they still get disgusted with themselves.”
Yes, some of these guys do earn millions but I do sometimes wonder if some of these guys realise they make millions from playing a game. They are not exactly saving the world.
We do admire the players who become the best in the world because we all know how difficult the game of golf can be. Sport is our distraction from the mundane parts of our lives, which includes such things as having to work at a job so we can pay the mortgage on our house.
I could not find any reports of McIlroy being fined by the PGA Tour for his actions and I therefore presume he was not fined. If he was fined by the PGA Tour, what’s the big secret?
Tennis players are fined thousands of dollars for racquet abuse. The jockey of the runner-up in last month’s Victoria Derby was suspended for 10 racedays and fined $A10,000 for excessive use of the whip. He used the whip 10 times instead of the allowable five times.
Thankfully we know that those who run those two sports are not tolerating such behaviour.
I became more annoyed by McIlroy when he was interviewed about the incident, I think a day later. He said it was not the first time he had broken a club and it would not be the last time. That, to me, appeared he had little or no regret.
We all get annoyed when we play a bad shot but I do not appreciate it when my fellow players start throwing clubs or the like.
The likes of McIlroy are among the best players in the world and it is upon them to show the game in good light.
I wondered how McIlroy’s sponsors felt about the incident. McIlroy uses Taylormade clubs. He probably does not have to buy his clubs and is probably paid to use them.
If you were the boss of Taylormade, would you have been impressed by McIlory? By breaking one of the Taylormade clubs was McIlroy saying these clubs are useless?
