a day ago
Rory McIlroy: I didn't care if I made cut at US Open
Rory McIlroy's body language here at the 125th US Open Championship has screamed that he would rather be elsewhere and, after a third-round 74 on Saturday, he admitted that he was not sure whether he even wanted to make the cut.
It was a stunning revelation from the world No 2, who just two months ago was in the clouds after finally winning the Masters, becoming only the sixth player in history to complete the career grand slam. And now? It sounds as if, as far as golf is concerned, he has gone directly from the Green Jacket into a straitjacket.
When praised for the fight he showed on Friday after recovering from two early double-bogeys – not to mention a thrown club and a demolished tee marker – to qualify for the weekend, McIlroy shrugged his shoulders.
'It's funny, it's much easier being on the cut line when you don't really care if you're here for the weekend or not,' he said, after moving to 10 over and falling outside the top 50. 'I was sort of thinking: 'Do I really want two more days here or not?''
When pressed on what he is looking for from Sunday's final round, he replied: 'Hopefully, a round in under four-and-a-half hours and get out of here.'
'I have felt a little flat on the golf course'
McIlroy said in his pre-tournament press conference that he has struggled for motivation since joining Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan in the exclusive clean-sweep club.
'You don't really know how it's going to affect you,' he reiterated on Saturday, after a round featuring six bogeys and two birdies. 'You don't know how you're going to react to such a… I wouldn't say a life-altering occasion, but at least something that I've dreamed about for a long time. Yeah, I have felt a little flat on the golf course afterwards.'
McIlroy is nothing if not honest and his candour is a factor in why he is so popular with the press and, yes, the fans. This was the first time he had agreed to speak to the media after a major round since his Augusta glory.
He refused to talk after all four rounds of the US PGA – where he also scraped inside the cut on his way to a tie for 47th – and then after the first two rounds here.
McIlroy clearly has an issue with the scribblers and commentators, but would not reveal what it is. He acknowledged that the faux furore over his non-confirming driver at the US PGA – when his was the only name that was leaked after the clubs of at least nine fellow players had also failed routine testing – was 'part of it'. But he denied that his vows of silence have also been down to angst with his form.
'It's more a frustration with you guys,' he said. ' I don't know. I've been totally available for the last few years, and I'm not saying… maybe not you guys, but maybe more just the whole thing.'
Of course, after the advent of LIV Golf in 2022, McIlroy carried the can for the opposition, becoming the voice of disapproval for the PGA Tour. Does he believe that stint as the de facto shop steward earned him the right now to be tight-lipped? 'I feel like I've earned the right to do whatever I want to do, yeah,' he said.
McIlroy has previously noted that, unlike tennis, the pros are not mandated to carry out press duties after each match, or in this case, round. He insisted, however, that he wants this policy to remain. 'I'm not daring them [the golf authorities] to do anything,' McIlroy said. 'I hope they don't change it because it would, you know, this is a nice luxury to have.'
Brandel Chamblee, the Golf Channel analyst, is just one expert who thinks McIlroy could be playing a dangerous game if this becomes the norm. 'In my view, Rory has been the best with the media over the last 15 years, which makes his refusal to talk after his rounds at the last two majors so puzzling,' Chamblee said.
'I think he is lithe enough to understand this is a bad long-term strategy. Fans are fickle. They are incredibly generous to those who give back to them and vicious to those who turn their backs on them.
'Given that Rory is one of the game's biggest leaders, him not talking has tricky normative implications, in my opinion. Why have past greats – Tiger [Woods] almost always talked, even after poor rounds – been so generous with the media?
'Perhaps it's out of a sense of duty, following a custom passed down to them by the players that came before them who understood that the debt you pay to those who elevated the game before you is by elevating the game for those who come after you.'
That much might all be true, but McIlroy's biggest concern before The Open in his homeland at Royal Portrush is rediscovering his game. He is due to play in next week's Travelers Championship in Connecticut and will then tee it up at the Scottish Open, the week before his quest for a second Claret Jug.
The good news is that he feels that his reversion to the TaylorMade Qi 10 driver for this event was the right step. 'I've driven the ball as good as I have in a long time, so that's at least a positive this week,' McIlroy said.
For his many admirers, however, it must surely be worrying that the narrative surrounding this most natural of characters and talents has turned negative in such a bizarrely short amount of time.
Paul McGinley, the former Ryder Cup captain who is a friend of his countryman, concurs. 'We thought that winning a major, winning the Masters, was going to unlock him,' McGinley said on Sky Sports. 'But it looks like it's burdened him more than anything else. His frustration is quite clear, and his game is nowhere near where it needs to be.'
