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When Rory McIlroy sees West Palm Beach buddy Jack Nicklaus following a tough week on tour, McIlroy has learned to brace himself, because he knows what’s likely coming: a double-service of tough love. Rory, What happened on that tee at 6? That three-hit in 17 really hurts. You should have been lying on 4.
That’s exactly how Jack is. If there’s something on his mind, chances are you’ll hear about it, especially if he cares about you.
“He’s not afraid to speak his mind, and obviously having the opinion of someone who’s been so successful at our game is great for people who spend a little bit of time around him,” McIlroy said Wednesday of Jack in Ohio, Memorial.
Even if it is sometimes difficult to hear these opinions.
Most of the time McIlroy spends around Nicklaus is at the South Florida hangout they belong to, the Bear Club, which Jack and his wife Barbara founded in 1999. Rory was 10 years old at the time, and he was all curls and self-confidence. He’s had some growth — and wins — in the years since: 23 PGA Tour titles; Four major wins In reality Pro-tourism wear. An investor in many businesses. a husband of six years to Erica; Father of 2-year-old daughter Poppy.
Sometimes wins came easily to McIlroy, other times not so much – especially in the more important tournaments. Hard to believe, when McIlroy last won a major championship, Obama still had two years left in the Oval Office.
Is McIlroy a lesser player than he was in 2014? It is impossible to say for sure, although it is safe to say that he had periods of extensions during those nine years when he had at least Believes That he was as good as himself in ’14.
One such race came in 2019, when McIlroy won twice early in the year and looked set for a big week at The Open Championship at Portrush, in his native Northern Ireland; McIlroy was in the midst of what he described as “the most consistent spell of golf” he had ever played. But then he bogeyed the first hole with a par four, opening it with an appalling 79 and missing the cut. Earlier this year, McIlroy was enjoying another hot spell. He came to the WM Phoenix Open with three wins in eight starts and said, “I don’t feel like I was a complete player the way I am now.” But after two months in the Masters? another mc.
And so it went with McIlroy. High hopes and expectations on the eve of major currencies followed by volatile and turbulent offers.
Which brings us back to Nicklaus, who was asked on Tuesday about McIlroy’s major struggles. “I really don’t know what to do with it,” Nicklaus said. “Because he’s so confident. He works so hard at it. He’s a good student of the game. He practices a lot. I don’t know if it’s a constant lack of being able to keep that focus for the whole thing or not, because sometimes it’s par-par-par.” -double-8. He does that sometimes. So I said, “Why, Rory? Why does that happen? And he doesn’t know. No one. When you do that, you don’t know. You try to think of why you do it, but you don’t. I mean it “As talented as he is, he’s as talented a player as he is at golf. Why hasn’t he won in nine years? It’s kind of a mystery to a lot of people, because he’s so good.”
So good in 2014. Still so good today. So, what has changed? First, the constant pulling of all McIlroy’s non-golf interests and responsibilities. That way, Rory may not be so different from you. Perhaps you’ve agonized over finishing a quarterly report to your boss, or going to your kid’s Little League game? Or maybe you turned down a promotion, because you knew it would mean less time with your loved ones? Players in McIlroy’s life stage are constantly confronted with these same questions, only instead of reports and spreadsheets, their work duties are visits to the gym and band sessions.
“It’s something I’ve had to practice for a number of years,” McIlroy said. “I certainly spend enough time in golf and in my career that I feel ready to play tournaments like this. But at the same time I spend enough time with my wife and daughter so that they really know who I am. I’m not saying I don’t, but there is that balance, You know, it’s time management, it’s just getting your priorities in order.”
Which brings us back again to Niklaus. During the height of his power, Nicklaus never faced a drought as great as McIlroy’s. But he took a break. After winning the 1967 US Open, Nicklaus did not win another major tournament until the 1970 Open Championship.
“I was playing really well,” Nicklaus said. “But I can say I was having a lot of fun. We had three kids by then and had fun with my kids. I did practice a little bit, but I didn’t practice as well as I should have. Golf is my number two thing. My family was by far my number one. And this was is the first thing I wanted to do and be a part of. For me, it was playing golf—golf is a game. A game that I actually got decently into, but it was, you know, something even though it didn’t really dominate my life.”
fit in, very funny. McIlroy’s feelings about the game are eerily similar. When you hear him and Nicklaus talk about work-life balance, their words are almost interchangeable.
“Look, I’d like to sit here and say I’m just a golfer and that’s all I focus on, but that’s not the reality,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “So it’s just a matter of managing your time in the right way so that you can continue to hone your craft and make sure that when the action kicks in — I think when you see players get to the later stages of their careers, they play less. Because I think it takes more time.” A little bit to prepare for the events you play in. So, yeah, but that’s life, right. I think the interests and everything I have in my life now at 34 are because of the things I did when I was 23, 25, 27.”
It’s a thorny dilemma to solve: how to be player of the year at the same time And Father/husband of the year? How do you nurture your golfing soul at the same time while finding time to soak up life’s other wonders? How to be a world-beater while helping to improve the world (not to mention the future of your own tour against an upstart competitor)?
Nicklaus battled a lot of these feelings. Until he didn’t. Of rediscovering his main ways in 1970, he said, “I sort of centered myself on getting back into work and trying to work harder at it.”
McIlroy will do the same, says Nicklaus.
“Rory will wake up one morning and say, ‘Hey, I better get the stick here and start winning some more big, because he’s definitely going to win more,’” Nicklaus said. “I can’t believe it’s not like that. And sometimes we all have to focus and focus on what we need to do and so on to get there.”
One of McIlroy’s lowest moments in the majors came at the 2011 Masters, when he led four shots into the fourth round—and shot an 80. The golf world seemed to grieve more for McIlroy than it did for himself. Two months later, Nicklaus collided with McIlroy on the run at the memorial. As Nicklaus recalled it, their conversation went something like this:
“Rory, what in this world? Did you learn anything from what you did?”
(Ed Note: There’s the hard love thing again.)
“I think so, but I’m not sure.”
“Well, I hope you did, because you’ll need to apply it here in two weeks at the US Open.”
At that US Open—at Congressional—McIlroy played like a possessed golfer, winning a course by eight.
Niklaus continued: “I left him a note afterwards, because I hadn’t seen him, and said, ‘You obviously learned something from Augusta, but more importantly, did you learn anything from why you won? It’s something to be learned’ [from] Why do you lose, but it is also important to know why you win. You put those two things together and if you get both right you will win many golf tournaments. Rory was really good about it, that time in his life.”
And this time in his life?
Questions will linger until McElroy lifts the No. 5 major trophy. His next chance comes in two weeks at Los Angeles Country Club, site of the 2023 US Open.