Rory rapped by Els after storming off mid-round
OPEN champion Ernie Els blasted world No 1 Rory McIlroy f or sensationally quitting midway through the second round of the Honda Classic yesterday.
McIlroy had already dropped seven shots in the first eight holes of his round in Florida when he hit his second shot at the 18th — his ninth — into the water.
To the shock of playing partners, Els and Mark Wilson, McIlroy then walked off without completing his round and later blamed a sore wisdom tooth f or his controversial decision. ‘I’m a great fan of
RORY Unplugged, said the invitation on Tuesday, inviting the media to the formal announcement Rory McIlroy was hooking up with the sound company Bose. Who knew that by Friday it would be more like Rory Unhinged?
Certainly, the world No 1 and, lest we forget, defending champion at this week’s Honda Classic, is going to need some powerful noisecancelling headphones to drown out the criticism coming his way after walking off the course midway through his second round yesterday.
McIlroy issued a statement later saying he was bothered by a sore wisdom tooth and was in severe pain. How bizarre that he never mentioned it to either of his playing partners, Ernie Els or Mark Wilson, before walking off the 18th green — his ninth hole on the day — and into a BMW.
How strange t hat he never mentioned it to the small knot of reporters before he closed the car door. For the record, he said: ‘There’s not much I can say, guys. I’m just not in a good place, mentally.’
As one wag put it, perhaps he said dentally.
Tooth or not, there was something seriously affecting McIlroy’s wisdom. How bad can the pain be if you’re photographed in the middle of the 18th fairway tucking into a huge sandwich, for heaven’s sake?
The previous night, he had tweeted from his mum Rosie’s birthday party, saying he was having a great dinner. Rory must be the first man in history to be in agony from a wisdom tooth and yet still have a healthy appetite.
McIlroy has talked honestly in the past about struggling to give his all when out of contention, but this went completely beyond the pale. This is supposed to be the sport where you take your lumps and play on.
In so many respects, McIlroy is the ideal role model. Not only is he brilliantly talented, he is a genuinely nice man and so forthcoming it makes you glad to be working in this sport.
But, at every stage, McIlroy got this horribly wrong. If he was in that much pain, he should have withdrawn from playing before the start. If he was able to eat a sandwich at halfway, he should have been able to play on; and if he wasn’t able to play on, then he should have come out and said he was in agony from a sore wisdom tooth, not issue a statement an hour later.
As you can probably guess, it was all going south on the course by this stage. This was supposed to be the tournament where he shut up all those critics, like Sir Nick Faldo, who openly questioned his move to Nike clubs. Instead, he was running up a double bogey at the 11th and a triple bogey at the 16th. At the time, he lay 137th out of 142 players.
And then he quit. Honestly, could this look any worse? As McIlroy climbed i nto his car, his mum and dad made their way into the clubhouse, grim-faced.
Unaware of what was going on, his management representative came around the corner. ‘Hi guys, don’t know why he is playing badly, but there’s nothing wrong with the clubs and he was in brilliant spirits last night,’ he said. When I pointed out he had actually withdrawn, the colour drained from his face. ‘No way,’ he said. By with drawing in such controversial circumstances, McIlroy has dramatically increased the pressure on himself after his poor start to the season. He is due to play at the Cadillac Championship next week, an hour from here in Miami. Can you imagine what it is going to be like there, assuming the pain from his wisdom tooth has gone?
At least he is guaranteed four rounds there, which will double the amount of competitive golf he has played in the last three months.
So far this year, McIlroy has missed the halfway cut at the Abu Dhabi Championship, suffered a first-round exit in the Accenture Match Play and now this.
No doubt there will be lots more talk about the clubs, but Ricci Roberts, who caddies for Ernie Els, Rory’s playing partner yesterday, laid the blame on his head action.
‘If you look at the video now and when he is playing at his best, you can see his head dipping by as much as a foot,’ he said. ‘He was hitting some wicked shots and you could tell he was totally out of sorts. But it’s nothing to do with the clubs.
‘Players adjust to new clubs all the time. It’s his head action.’
Roberts almost felt like crying on occasions watching Els, another sublimely gifted golfer, trying to sort out his well- documented putting problems. He saw much suffering, but the one thing he never saw Els do was sit on his stool; in his rollercoaster 19-year career, the South African has never withdrawn during a round.
‘I bet Rory is feeling terrible right now,’ said the Open champion, and he wasn’t talking about his tooth. Let’s hope Ernie is right. Let’s hope Rory is feeling bad and learns from this complete fiasco because this was totally unacceptable.
There’s no question he will be back, of course. He will win more majors because he’s the best talent this sport has seen in at least a generation. But this was a day when Rory went down a little in the estimation of a lot of people.
The tournament? Lee Westwood lies three off the lead held by American Luke Guthrie. But nobody was talking about that last night.