Rory Riffs On Tiger; Where Was Chubby's Red Pen?

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Okay, we're not in Stephen Ames territory quite yet, but you do have to wonder what Rory McIlroy thinks there is to gain from these comments about Tiger in a self-bylined golf.com item that appears in this week's SI Golf Plus special issue.

I wasn't playing against Tiger Woods when he had that aura. I was watching on TV! I remember getting nervous when I first met him. I was 15. There was a presence about him. There still is to some extent, but when you're on the golf course you simply block it out. But Tiger is not playing as well as he was even a couple of years ago, never mind going back to the late 1990s and early 2000s, when he was at his best. I'm not sure we are going to see him dominate again the way he did. He never seemed like he would make a mistake.

Okay, that was edgy but at least that's the...oh there's more.

It's not that he's playing badly. He's simply playing badly by Tiger's standards. He's playing like an ordinary golfer. People expect more of him because of what he has achieved. As much as I would love to have the success that Tiger has had on the golf course, I wouldn't want to live his life. He has made the same mistakes as any footballer, or NBA or NFL player. Tiger is obviously different from the rest of us because he is a bit of a rock star. But he can't really take his kids to the cinema. It's a tough life because of what he has done and what he represents, being the first African-American golfer to break down the barriers.

Why didn't Rory's ten-percenter, Chubby Chandler, turn into Ben Bradlee on this one? Or do they just not ever anticipate having to face Tiger in contention anymore and enjoy beating the lad while he's down?

Or...maybe this was just a ploy to bury the real lede: Rory writing that The Players has lost its luster moving to May!

"It's a very good indication to him, though, that if he keeps his hair that's how he's going to look when he's 45."

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Rory McIlroy is carrying on the peculiar European Tour tradition (Poulter, Clarke, Westwood, Donald) of putting his hard earned millions toward regular visits to a high-priced hair salon where he was convinced life as a blond would be better. Maybe this is why he's going to stay closer to home next year?
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Which Was More Amazing, Ryo's 58 and Rory's 62? Or Their Combined Age Of 38?

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I know it's a pointless debate, but considering their age (Ryo 18, Rory 20), this weekend's play has to go down as one of the more amazing performances by young players in the game's history. Ryo's round as reported by AP:

The 18-year-old Ishikawa tapped in for par on the par-4 18th after his 15-foot birdie try slid inches by the cup. He had 12 birdies in his bogey-free round on the 6,545-yard Nagoya Golf Club course.

“I always dreamed of getting a score like this but didn’t think I would do it so fast,” Ishikawa said. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but I’m sure it will after a few days.”

After opening with rounds of 68, 70 and 71 to fall six strokes behind third-round leader Shigeki Maruyama, Ishikawa birdied nine of the first 11 holes Sunday. He added birdies on Nos. 14-16 and closed with two pars to finish at 13-under 267, five strokes ahead of Hiroyuki Fujita and Australia’s Paul Sheehan.

“I got off to a good start for the first time in four rounds, so I told myself not to give up for the title until the end,” Ishikawa said. “To my surprise, I found myself making this many birdies. I was in a calm mental state for all 58 strokes.”

Doug Ferguson on Rory's win at Quail Hollow Sunday:

Explosive as ever, the 20-year-old from Northern Ireland was 5 under over the final five holes to set the course record at 10-under 62 and win by four shots over Masters champion Phil Mickelson.

McIlroy finished in style, rolling in a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole and thrusting his fist into the air.

“I suppose I got into the zone,” said McIlroy, who celebrates his 21st birthday on Tuesday. “I hadn’t realized I was going in 9, 10 under. I just know I got my nose in front and I was just trying to stay there.”

"Why did he have a go at the media and why did he bring up his charity?"

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Mark Reason talks to Chubby Chandler about Tiger's statement reading and the agent to Els and McIlroy cites two "blunders."

Chandler says: "Why did he have a go at the media and why did he bring up his charity? I'd have left those two bits out. He should just have been sorry and laid out what he's doing and what he's going to do.

"The more he says he doesn't want his wife and kid photographed, the more they're going try to do it. I don't get it. In our world the Beckhams are as high profile and they manage perfectly well."

And this was bold...

"I don't think Tiger will be No1 in five years. I think it will be one of the young kids. It could be Rory, it could be Kaymer, this Michael Sim is very good, for an 18 year-old Ryo Ishikawa is ridiculous. He's ahead of Rory. If you ask Rory who his hero is, it's Ishikawa. How's that? He says he's the coolest golfer in the world.

He says: 'How's my hero doing?'" Once upon a time 12 months ago Tiger Woods was Rory's hero. Now it's a teenager from Japan with sticky-up air.

Rory Crashes Car Into Neighbor's Cabbage Patch: "I didn't have anyone chasing me!"

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Karl MacGinty reports on the young Irishman crashing his Audi A6 (Thank God it wasn't the new Lamborghini!) after an ice patch sent his car sideways.

When the irony of his New Year's Eve mishap is pointed out, the 20-year-old says: "I didn't have anyone chasing me!" Instead, compacted snow had made an ice rink of the driveway at his luxury Co Down home and McIlroy simply span off.

"I was crawling down the driveway," he explains. "There's a sharp left-hand bend and as I braked to turn into it, the car just slid. As it did, I thought to myself, 'I know where this is going' – straight into the hedge. I ended up in the neighbour's cabbage patch." There was one consolation. He had left his spanking new Lamborghini in the garage.

If only all bizarre car accidents could be so innocent. A fan of Woods since he was six and first glimpsed the young Tiger on telly at the 1996 US Amateur Championship, McIlroy admitts he was taken aback by the revelations that followed Tiger's crash that fateful November night in Orlando. "Even I was disappointed when I heard what happened," he says. "Everyone thought 'Aw no'. They were shocked because, obviously, he'd been doing it for a while."

"Against the advice of his manager and at least three vastly more experienced players, the 20-year-old officially announced his intention to join the PGA Tour next year."

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John Huggan analyzes Rory McIlroy's decision to play a few more PGA Tour events next year and perhaps most refreshing in the story was the revelation that unlike some recent prodigies, his management team was not attempting to direct him toward the most money.
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