Rory's Glory (19 page)

Those forces governing the course at Wells Fargo adore Rory and the feeling is mutual. Even the sound of that tournament is phonetically one of the nicest in golf – the Wells Fargo at Quail Hollow.

It must make Rory want to eat quail for dinner and quail eggs for breakfast because he is rarely out of the top 10 there and holds the course record. So it proved again at Wells Fargo as three weeks later he matched his Masters finish with another eighth place.

He went from one extreme to the other the following week when he once again tried to climb and conquer his own personal Everest at the Players in Sawgrass. It did not look too good after he opened with rounds of 70 and 74 to just about make the weekend.

Martin Kaymer opened with a -9, 63 and was never caught. Rory did improve with a 69 in the third round and he closed with a fine 66 which helped him soar up the leaderboard to a share of sixth place.

Those last two rounds will give him confidence confronting Sawgrass in future. The previous year he had opened with a 66 and finished tied eighth and this time he closed with the same score to again finish in the top 10, so he looks like reaching the summit soon.

At the Memorial Tournament three weeks later he registered another good result when finishing just outside the top 10 in 15
^th
. He was still showing brilliant consistency but without ever threatening to take an event by the scruff of the neck and win handsomely.

A fortnight after Ohio came the second major of the year, the 114
^th
US Open. Rory was coming into Pinehurst, North Carolina, in great confidence on the back of excellent consistency.

His game was in good shape and he was hoping for just one final push to land the win his form merited and his third major. But Martin Kaymer, who blew the field away after his first round in the ‘Fifth Major', blitzed the entire US Open field at the halfway point.

US Opens are noted for being such tough assignments that normally someone under par or level par can win the event. Such was the case the previous year when Justin Rose won his first major in the US Open at Merion, Pennsylvania on one over par with Mickelson second on three over.

That was nothing compared to 2006 when Geoff Ogilvy triumphed at Winged Foot recording a four round total of six over. In 2007 at Oakmont, Angel Cabrera went one better by winning on five over!

After two rounds, the German broke several records by carding 65, 65 for 10 under. It must be stressed that it was even better than Rory's 11 under in 2011 because this was a par-70 course to Rory's par 72 at Congressional (Rory was -13 through 35 holes). With Kaymer on fire, Rory was never really in with a chance after his opening salvo of 71 and 68. He was nine shots behind and, like the rest of the field in these brutal tests, he regressed after that.

Further rounds of 74 and 73 meant he finished on six over which was still good enough for 23
^rd
. Only three men finished under par. Kaymer matched Rory's eight shot winning margin in 2011 by winning on nine under from Erik Compton and Rickie Fowler on one under. Fourth was one over par.

The thing about this result which depressed McIlroy was that only two majors remained and he was now in great danger of successive seasons without major success. All of his consistency bore no fruit.

More to the point, and if you ignore his last gasp Australian triumph, then he was almost one and a half years without a win in Europe or the US. Make no bones about it – Nike would have been concerned. He said:

I'm wondering how he [Kaymer] did it, yeah. It's tough. I think I've made a total of nine birdies this week. I don't see anymore out there. It's tough. Obviously, if you limit the mistakes, you might end up a couple under par for the week, because you're always going to make a few mistakes. But to do what he did – I think it's nearly more impressive than what I did at Congressional.

Rory had only four days until he teed up in the Irish Open at Fota Island Resort in Cork. To make matters even worse, when he arrived at the Southern Ireland course, his Nike clubs were nowhere in sight.

United Airlines had somehow managed to lose them in transit and a frantic search was underway to locate them. They were eventually found but it did not do much for his preparations and he ended up missing the cut.

The clubs issue contributed to his first round 74 but he fought like a tiger the next day to make the cut. He failed by the narrowest of margins after a 69 and was clearly frustrated, gutted and embarrassed afterwards as he explained:

It's very frustrating. To make six birdies an eagle and shoot just two under means there were a lot of mistakes and wasteful shots. To miss the cut here for the second year in a row is not a nice position to be in. It is very disappointing.

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On 18 June, totally unexpected and out of the blue, Rory announced at the Irish Open in Fota Island to a ripple of applause that he would represent Ireland in the Olympics. It was a huge relief and load off his mind as no doubt it was for many in Ireland. He said:

It's just a continuation of what I've always done really. I represented Ireland at Boys and Youths level in European and World Championships and just because I'm now a professional playing for money, it doesn't change that.

When he was asked if it had been a big decision and if he was relieved, he revealed:

Not really because when I had a little time to myself and I sat down and really thought about it, as I said it was just a continuation of what I've always done. So I'll be delighted and I'm really looking forward to pulling on the Irish jersey in Brazil in 2016.

In the circumstances, it was galling for McIlroy to miss the cut at the Irish Open. In fact it was to be his only M/C of the entire season on the US and European tour. He has stated he badly wants to win his home Open. There are several reasons for that:

He is Irish and was helped and nurtured by the GUI; Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry have won it in recent years; he wants to become only the fifth Irishman to win it in almost 40 years since Christy O'Connor Junior won the inaugural event in 1975.

So it would be a major blot on his resume if he fails. That is not to mention the great list of illustrious names to have won it – Ben Crenshaw, Hubert Green, Sam Torrance, Seve, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam, Ollie, Sir Nick Faldo, Monty and Sergio Garcia.

Many people felt that Rory wanted to ‘buy an Irish Open' with the announcement a week before the 2014 Ryder Cup that his company would sponsor the 2015 Irish Open as it moved to Royal County Down.

Of course this is total nonsense as he has to physically go out and win it. It is also nice for the ‘Rory Foundation Irish Open' to be held in beautiful County Down where Rory knows the course so well.

I do however feel strongly our Irish Open should also be reinstated at two other courses where I believe Rory would have a great chance of winning.

Portmarnock last staged it in 2003 and it would be so romantic for Rory to win there where all the legends have won.

Baltray in County Louth is a beautiful links course which would suit his game enormously. It is compact and fair and I was privileged to see a young Henrik Stenson play it in 2004 along with Luke Donald and Woosie. Tellingly, Shane Lowry won there in 2009.

Rory took three weeks off until he returned a week before the British Open at Royal Aberdeen for the Scottish Open. A superb opening round of -7, 64 was so good that it was put up in flashing lights –
*COURSE RECORD!*

It was not to last long as a couple of local Scots became Rory's party poopers.

Scott Jamieson equaled it with 64 in the last round before Stephen Gallacher took possession of the new outright record with a 63 later that afternoon.

Rory's second round told a far different story and a nasty horror habit was forming. He gave the seven shots back shooting 78. His chance of winning was over at the halfway point yet again as he eventually finished nine shots behind Justin Rose despite last rounds of 68 and 67.

Golf Channel's morning edition talked of Rory having an almost ‘Freaky Friday' complex where he could not string two great opening rounds together. He was following an opening sub-70 terrific Thursday with a frightful Friday round.

The evidence was there in the preceding weeks with great opening rounds followed by Friday scores of 77 at Augusta, 76 at Wells Fargo, 74 at the Players and a pair of terrible twin 78s at the Memorial and Aberdeen. But Rory left Aberdeen very happy stating: ‘I see enough good signs in my game to give me some confidence going into next week.'

Rory had been heavily criticised since the 2011 British Open when he moaned, groaned and complained about the wet and windy conditions. Many golfers expressed their opinions openly for and against Rory.

Men like Tom Watson, Ian Woosnam, Des Smyth and Eamon Darcy felt sympathy for him. In my 2011 book, I sought out the opinions of someone who actually played against him in the heat of amateur competition in wet and windy West of Ireland.

When Rory was 16, he played in the final of the Irish Close Championship at Westport, County Mayo, where he faced Eddie McCormack, a sales representative for a wine company. At 32, Eddie was twice his age.

He recollects that he went 1-up after five holes but on the back nine, Rory began to pull away when he went 4-up. Eddie pulled one back but attributes that to Rory losing a contact lens and he eventually lost 3 and 2.

The Galway man had consistently maintained, even before many in the higher echelons had pointed it out, that Rory would struggle to win a British Open unless he changed one particular facet of his game, as he explained:

Far be it for me to give Rory advice as he is obviously doing so much right over the last few years. But if I was to pinpoint one criticism of his game, I would say that he hits the ball far too high.

It is all very well doing that on a lot of golf courses – particularly inland. But I do feel that is the reason why he has struggled in the British Open. Because of that, he will find it very hard to string four good rounds together in the Open.

In the British Open, as well as in other events like the Irish Open, if he continues to hit the ball so high, it will mean that the ball will be carried by the wind and blown off course from its intended target. So in that aspect of his play, I think he'll have to learn to adapt to the conditions. If he can fade it, or hit the ball lower, which I'm sure is no problem to him, then he can definitely win an Open.

At Hoylake in Liverpool on 17 July, Rory could not have asked for better conditions. There was little or no wind as he went out and shot six under 66. He was extremely pleased with his morning's work, saying:

Anytime you shoot 66 in a British Open you're going to be pleased. We had perfect scoring conditions out there this morning. There was not much wind early on. The wind picked up a bit on the back nine but, yeah, there was plenty of opportunities to make birdies. I was able to take a few of them. Another great start and I'm really looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow. Really I just have to take it one hole at a time, one shot at a time. I know everyone says it and you've heard it a million times, but it's true. That's what I'll be trying to do tomorrow.

Next day Rory started with a bogey on the first hole. It would turn out to be his only dropped shot in 36 holes. He went on to shoot another superb 66 and was now four shots ahead of Dustin Johnson who shot 65.

Not even an intruder on the eighth hole could stop him. To much amusement, a pheasant strolled across his path as he lined up a birdie putt. He and J P shooed it away and then he calmly birdied. Later he chuckled:

I haven't run into that before on a golf course. I might have had a swan or a duck or geese but never a pheasant. It was nice. It didn't put me off.

In the third round, he was unrelenting. His progress continued. A 68 put him on an amazing -16 under after three rounds and he looked home and hosed. He was six shots ahead going into the final day. One statement he made said it all:

I feel like I just have an inner peace on the golf course. I'm very comfortable in this position. I'm very comfortable doing what I'm doing right now. It's hard to describe. I wish I could get into it more often.

He was really telling the world he was in the zone and he was not going to be caught. All his near misses and frustrations were going to be rewarded with one of the biggest prizes in golf. He was fulfilling his boyhood dream as he spoke those words. He was living it.

Only two things could stop him. Another meltdown similar to Augusta 2011 or the forecast bad weather arriving. As we have seen before in these pages with such as Tomas Bjorn and Adam Scott, final rounds can be full of drama. This would be no exception.

It turned out to be one of the greatest Open's since the 1970s when Nicklaus battled it out with Tom Watson and Gary Player. On Sunday 20 July at Hoylake, two gunslingers confronted Rory at the top in a nail-biting shootout – Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler.

Rory looked very nervous on the first tee. He was within reach of a huge personal goal. A British Open was nigh and the fulfillment of a boyhood dream. But he was also wary that after some great rounds, the law of averages meant an ordinary or bad round was due.

He could also hear roars signaling players making moves ahead. It seemed game, set and match when Rory sank a lovely birdie on the first green to go -17 under. But the Fat Lady never sings too early in the day. She makes you work to deserve it. Nothing comes easy.

Unbelievably, he made careless bogeys at the par-five fifth and the par-three sixth to slip back to 15 under and when Sergio Garcia eagled the 10
^th
, Rory's lead was down to just two shots. From five shots to two shots in the blink of an eye and Rory's heart was in his mouth.

He steadied his ship on the seventh and eighth holes and it was business as normal after he made consecutive birdies on the ninth and 10
^th
. But just when the wind was taken out of Garcia's sails, so along surfed the American beach boy Rickie Fowler.