Love At First Bite: Rory Has Press Swooning Again!

I woke up to a major lovefest on Twitter and now the reviews are unanimous from the Doral media center: we have our Rory back! Our cute, utterly pettable Rory McIlroy was honest and forthright with us about his petulant behavior, unlike you-know-who.

Yes, it sounds like the scribblers have already forgotten the lad who callously fired one agent, isn't a fan of links golf, had a walk-off WD last week and backed it up with a severe stretching of the truth about a tooth!

Jim McCabe has the least doting rundown of Rory's apology/admission press conference. He leaves his pom-poms at home thankfully and just reports what was said, what was clarified, etc...

James Corrigan said the "mea culpa came naturally" but did note, "it was an impressive display, only marred by a stupid joke with an Irish pop star." Seems there was indeed an edge to his Twitter hashtags. Those begrudgers!

Bob Harig takes the love up a notch, calling the performance an "ace."

McIlroy did what he had to do Wednesday at the Trump Doral Resort, where he took questions about his ill-conceived decision to walk off the golf course in mid-round last Friday at the Honda Classic.

He said he was wrong, and he apologized.

Pretty simple stuff, really. Fairways and greens, a close approach, a birdie putt.

Rex Hoggard was all on board the Rory Express, saying the lad "hit all the right notes" and then spills over the proverbial top:

This isn’t about wisdom teeth, or new golf clubs or even a slightly-off-kilter swing so much as it is the unquantifiable pressure that comes with the number next to his name."

Well the good news is, he keeps stinking it up under the unquantifiable pressure, World No. 2 is right around the corner. Or he could experience genuinely unquantifiable pressure, like wondering how he's going to pay his next rent check?

And Kyle Porter just had to play the Tiger comparison card.

As much as McIlroy got killed last week for walking off the course, it was hard to watch this press conference and not feel impressed by his wisdom. He was open, honest, forthright, everything we want our athletes to be.

Everything Tiger Woods is not.

Update on Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 04:38 PM by Geoff

**More.

Dave Shedloski at GolfDigest.com said McIlroy "exuded maturity and humility."

Mark Lamport-Stokes says Caroline thought he was great too.

"I think Rory did a really great job at the press conference," Danish former world number one Wozniacki told reporters while preparing for the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

"He said what he had to say. He was honest. Now he's got to go out there this week and hopefully play some good golf."

Comments

[elf]

Ah, Geoff at his best :)

[Chuck Schick]

"Genuinely unquantifiable pressure" like a "rent check"?

That's pretty routine stuff for everyone not living out of a shopping cart. I'd suggest familiarity with the type of exquisite pressure you attempt to describe is known only to folks like members of a forward deployed ODA who haven't eaten in anything in 48 hours, are running low on ammunition and expecting imminent engagement.

Anyone having trouble paying their rent check probably can at least in part blame themselves for having done something more reckless than abandon a round of golf.

[Geoff]

Thanks Chuck...the point was, as your example also notes, there is real pressure in the world and then there is algorithmically induced pressure on athletes designed by computers as "World No. 1."

[greg c]

wouldn't mind seeing a DFL performance from the young lad this week...might do him some good

[gc]

Hope Woods continue in this mode. Dont even give them the time of day.

[John Rattray]

Here's what I don't understand about this episode: Why did the wisdom-tooth excuse throw the golf media into a tailspin, and why did everyone focus on the equipment change, his relationship with Caroline, etc.? The PGA Tour requires a medical excuse from players who WD. Rory was playing terribly and wanted to quit halfway through the round, so he found a flimsy excuse to justify doing so. It's not that hard to connect the dots.

When I used to play in qualifiers for the US Am, Pub Links, etc., there were lots of guys who would WD after shooting 80+ -- even 78, if only one spot was available and a bunch of guys had shot between 67 and 70. Opinion was typically divided on the decision to WD. To some, it made practical sense: you probably aren't going to shoot 60, and you could spend the time better on the range or putting green than on the course. I always felt that, especially if you'd shot yourself out of contention, playing the second 18 and submitting another card was a tough test of character. Choose the harder right, not the easier wrong. In my mind, Rory failed that test last Friday. If he had canceled because he didn't feel ready to compete, fine. But don't tee it up in competition and then walk off because you're struggling. He should have known better: look at what happened after he took his lumps on the back-9 at Augusta in 2011.

What's really fascinating about this episode is that Rory briefly forgot that he's no longer just another golfer playing in a US Am qualifier. He's a brand and a product. And when you become a brand and a product, you forgo the luxury of quitting or showing your temper, no matter how far your swing is off or how high your expectations. If he decides to quit in the middle of a practice round at The Bear's Club, where he's just another golfer, no one will question it. But once he tees it up in public events, his choices and behavior aren't strictly his own anymore. As of last week, I don't think he fully grasped the realities of that difference.

This episode wasn't about teeth or equipment or pressure or young love. It was about Rory confronting the ugly truths of his stature in professional golf and the world more generally. Tiger had his realization in 1997 in a limo with Charles Pierce and has coped with it by hedging, evading, and stonewalling. Rory had his realization last Friday. I wonder how he'll deal with it. And I wish a golf journalist would ask him a decent question about it.

[Scrambler]

Geoff -

What exactly makes you a "twerp" if you don't like links golf? Because he's from a certain geographic region, he's supposed to have a pre-determined preference that you find more acceptable?

I followed the link to the "callous" firing and failed to find the callous part. Had he made a lifelong commitment to Chubby I'm not aware of? Was he the only person to ever use a friends' reference (GMac) in changing a service provider? Seriously, what is the twerpy part?

Yeah, he made a mistake in WDing and clumsily offering a more "palatable" excuse. A "twerp" would say, "you don't own me and I don't owe you any apology" A kid who makes a mistake will sit through a press conference and say "yeah, I effed up."

A "twerp" would had avoided the press after a Back 9 Augusta meltdown (and probably would have been given a pass).


Geoff - it sounds to me like you're more upset at the press for the fawning behavior than you are at Rory. Did Rory set to Twitter after today's round and say "I aced that conference!!" Blame Bob Harig, not the kid who spent the day saying "I screwed up."

[KG]

I don't have an issue with Rory, the kid just screwed up. He's far too young to be expected not to make many more in the public eye.
But the press and fans will go out of their way to build a hero.

This line:
"He was open, honest, forthright, everything we want our athletes to be."
Particularly worries me, can't we just watch them play golf. Thats what I want my athletes to be, just athletes.
There's no heroic story here, stop trying to make one.

[elf]

@KG exactly. Rory is human, he will screw up, he has parts of his personality that aren't perfect. And so? I don't need Rory to be everything and sliced bread. I want him to act professionally the vast majority of the time, I want him to care about his performance on the golf course, and I want him to work hard at his craft. That's about all I can reasonably want or expect.

[RES]

To the above points, the last few times we've "expected" more from our athletic "heroes"
than that they excel at their sport, we've ended up with Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong.

Arthur Ashe died a long time ago.

[3foot1]

RES, My childhood hero, Bill Bradley, is still doing well, his only significant flaw being a lack of oratorical skill.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Scrambler,
If a golfer doesn't know that the greatest courses in the world are links courses, then he isn't really a golfer. (IMHO)

I'd post a link for you to hang out in some sewing circle instead, but honestly, it just isn't worth the time.

[Scrambler]

Dr Strangelove -

Well, nice interpretation of my comments. I love how your mind processes me saying, "Rory's not a twerp simply because he prefers parkland golf" and extrapolates that to "Scrambler must think the same thing & shoud go to a sewing circle."

It may be too complicated for you to process, but I love links courses and play 40% of my rounds with hickory. I even like paying in crappy weather. I just don't have the arrogance to believe everyone should subscribe to my preferences, lest they be labeled twerps.

He candidly stated that he preferred a different style course, which shouldn't be a shock since he grew up on a parkland course. Oh my god, what type of horrible person is influenced by the type of course they grew up on! But I suppose you would have been happier if he simply parroted some PR-vetted statement about how he loves links golf over all else.

"No, Rory, please don't be candid & have personal preferences. I expect you to conform to my idealized version of you!"

[meefer]

Mistake, evaluate, oops that was a f-up move, apology. Can we get back to the golf now?

[LennyB]

@John Rattray -You nailed it. Perfect

[joe]

Kinda surprised to see the Chubby needs protection from mean, old Rory. I was unaware that agents are such vessels of integrity that anything short of a lifetime relationship is proof of bad faith by the player.

I forget, was tiger supposed to fire Steiny or was Steiny supposed to fire tiger?

[munihack]

If people think this is a big issue wait until Rory makes his decision on the Olympics. What does it say about a sport if the no. 1 player (if he still is at the time) decides to ditch the whole thing because all of his choices are going to make a lot of people angry. Will Nike consider the Olympics part of his personal service contract? He may get a break though if they never get the course done...

[Digger Dave *is* digsouth]

I thought Rory stating that ''both things'' he said were true made sense, and I am glad it was asked and answered, but his ''I'm only 23'' whine was very vinegary tasting. Very poor taste there, yungun. Let others say that for you, as everyone from Ernie to half the reporters in the free world have done.

Now go play your ass off.

[Press Agent]

Listen folks: it is what it is, and it's a process. It's all right there in front of us, we just have to go out and do it. Having said that, none of us really understand the game at this high level - it's really ultra, super complicated once you reach a certain threshold.

These top athletes don't make such exorbitant amounts of money to "just play their game." It's never really been that way. They are the modern day gladiators, the heros of this age, the ones common people can hold on to and use to raise their otherwise dreadful lives. Today they are building them up, tomorrow they'll be taking pleasure in tearing them down. Life will go on, homes will be foreclosed upon, wall st. will build another bubble and the sun will rise tomorrow. Until the day it doesn't.

[Will]

Does it matter at all that he lied about his condition to get off the course? I underastand he conceded that it wasn't hurting him enough to WD but shouldn't there be a consequence for that? I doubt the Tour would choose to actually enforce their requirements, especially for a star player, but sheesh.

[Digger Dave *is* digsouth]

Will, because the PGA does not reveal penalties, for all we know, RMc is being fined.

[RLL]

It all becomes a footnote when he wins two majors this year.

[Hawkeye]

He's still odds on to finish DFL this week.

[Hawkeye]

Rory's new "takeaway waggle" would be a perfect takeaway, but on the actual swing he takes it back way on the outside and ends up looking more like Lee Trevino than Rory McIlroy. I just don't get it. In any case, it's not the clubs.

[OWGR Fan]

So Rory smiles, bats his eyes, says aww shucks, apologizes and it's all wine and roses again? Please.

[Nostrildamus]

If Rory can so easily tell a lie where else is he cutting corners?

[hillorhighwater]

Look, here's the point: Rory has shown a petulance and immaturity in the face of pressure and embarrassment and the media refuses to see it. Point blank. They act like him walking off the course was justified by (maybe even worth!) his "heartfelt" apology. "The kid made a mistake and owned up to it!" But deciding to fess up and apologize wasn't really a hard decision to make: what were his choices? Become evasive and recalcitrant and have everybody hate him, or bare his soul and have everybody treat him like the newborn king? The only thing that might make someone opt for choice a) would be pride and Rory clearly has none. The solutions to the easy choices, like wether or not to apologize so that everyone will love you again, are self-evident. The hard choices (which really shouldn't be choices at all), like wether or not to keep going when you're playing like crap in front of the world and your level of embarrassment has risen to epic proportions, those are obviously a lot trickier. And due to the nature of competition the hard decisions have to be made on the spot. You don't get the luxury of sitting down and thinking about it. Doing the right thing is only "doing the right thing" when you haven't sat down and thought about the upside for you. Praising Rory for making an easy decision after failing to make a good one in a tough position is the definition of "softball". This isn't about doing the right or wrong thing, it's about grit. If Rory doesn't toughen up and learn to deal with the pressure of being in the spotlight not just when it's going good but when it's going terrible it won't matter what he does because no one will be watching.