Why the unexpected frost of Rory Mcilroy is so annoying

Oakmont, without. – When I first met Rory McilroyHe was 19 and had not yet played his first tour as a professional in the United States. During a brown bag lunch in southern California, he spoke to travel to the world as an amateur golf player from Suburban Belfast. Things he saw! Grand (Disney World Opera House in Orlando) and Wranching. He was a savage with a wide view of the world. He was unexpected.

In the years since then Mcilroy has spoken to his Increased reading listHis humanitarian trip to Haiti, his psychologist and his penetration, their parents and their sacrifices, his daughter and her favorite films. He has been enjoyed in victory and sincere in loss. He talked and talked and talked about, and many of her were interesting, penetrating and intelligent. His swing, with a driver in his hand, came out of a golf dream. In the history of the game, there was never anyone like him. He was loved.

On April 13, He won his first mastersOn his 16th journey to Augusta and became the sixth player who won the Grand Slam career. It was the most popular Golf victory after Tiger won his fifth masters in 2019. It was extremely popular. On May 4, he returned 36 years old. From the outside looking inside, Rory Mcilroy looked healthy, rich and wise beyond his years.

Then, on the eve of the PGA championship in Quail Hollow, he was told that his driver, the driver with whom he won the masters, did not pass USGA conformity test. The face, degrading over time, had become very thin. On Friday of the PGA championship, there was a report about this failed Siriusxm PGA Tour Radio driver. And from that time, from the outside searching inside, Rory Mcilroy – dear Rory Mcilroy, with his six majority and his career Grand Slam and his wife and his young daughter and devoted parents and discreet and his sides in South Florida – seem to be in an epic execution. . .Cranky.

And it’s a strange moment for maybe millions of people because. . .

If this guy is strange, with everything he has achieved and everything he has, what chance the rest of us have?

If you closely follow men’s professional golf, you know about dried marker in Oakmont. You know for half a dozen times that he has blown out by various reporters who have covered him with a detectable pleasure for years, while giving his private life a wide bed. You know about his heartless game since the masters.

Something is happening here. Could it just be the non -conforming driver and how the news about it? It just looks so Is unlikely. This will seem like an excessive reaction.

Mcilroy talked to reporters after his Saturday 74. It was like a divorced couple having a court conference in the room. The first question was asked by Stephen Watson, a veteran sports reporter and anchor for the BBC Northern Ireland, a news organization in particular.

“Can you give us an estimate of your open US so far?” Asked Watson.

The two -word response of Mcilroy and the long and exciting pause that followed him showed the burdens on his mental state.

“Very average,” he said, like the BBC Northern Ireland audience, and millions of other people beyond its reach, have no right to know more.

I don’t want to turn this into each other’s self-supposed media against the famous athlete barrier. There is a lot of this, everywhere. My opinion is that Collin Morikawa is lucky that people are actually interested in what he does as a professional golf player. But if he does not want to share knowledge of his experiences on each given day, it depends on him. For Rory or any of the others, the same. I have a great respect for Tiger Woods that he got up there around the round, when golf was easy for him and when he was not, and got questions. And the times he did not do, no great.

But this feels different. For over 15 years now, we, reporters and fans, have made this investment in careful About Rory Mcilroy, person and golf player, in good times and bad. And we are discovering now the feeling is not always mutual. This, at least, is disappointing. From the person who only won the masters two months ago and became the sixth golf who won the Grand Slam career. Strange, strange, strange.

So there is this, and there is something much more significant, and is one of the most complex things in human experience: can you be in regular contact, meaningful with your sense of gratitude? This is a question for Rory Mcilroy, for you, for your correspondent, for anyone and everyone. Is a universal.

The last question a reporter made Mcilroy on Saturday afternoon was this: “Do you look for tomorrow?”

“Hopefully a round in under four and a half hours and get out of here,” Mcilroy said.

I understand that this is a quick and upset answer to a question for no particular depth. But it is offensive to hundreds of USGA officials and volunteers working so hard to put this tournament, and members of Oakmont and hundreds of club employees. For people who prepare the food he and others ate here, who cleared the toilets that he and others used here, who provided the safety and welcome of the first theme and everything else. The answer of a righteous person who is not in contact with the fundamental value of gratitude. (Asked on Saturday if he felt as if he had the right to reject the interview requests after the round, Mcilroy said, “I feel like I have earned the right to do whatever I want to do.”) I am not judging. Believe me, I have been there myself, acting upPity and important. I try to be aware. Here, with Rory, I’m observing, it’s everything. We see what we see. I’m thinking it’s a transient mood.

Arnold Palmer grew 40 miles down the road from here, in Latrobe. He was lucky. He played golf in an era when the game was actually fascinating. The stars wore Egyptian cotton shirts, cashmere sweater, leather shoes. Their clubs were handmade artwork. Money took a back place in friendship but somehow players were more independent than they are today. I know how much Rory admired Arnold and his era. Rory and his brothers would do well to remember Arnold’s golden rule: Never put yourself ahead of the game.

Things feel a little wild in golf now, immersed in themselves, out. Not everywhere. Scottie Scheffler is a bright example of this. The British open, the same. This year Royal Portrush visits, a one-hour car from Mcilroy’s childhood home. Perhaps another Rory, Old Rory, will appear there, the one who traveled to the world as a young man and asked him in fear.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments in Michael.bamberger@golf.com

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