There was potentially more intrigue surrounding Rory McIlroy’s press conference ahead of the Canadian Open than there had been concerning how he would actually play at TPC Toronto.
Rory McIlroy makes his return to competitive golf this week, with the Northern Irishman looking to win the Canadian Open title for a third time in five appearances this week.
McIlroy has not teed it up since the PGA Championship. Of course, it proved to be a hugely disappointing week for the 36-year-old as he was nowhere near being in contention at Quail Hollow.
McIlroy’s form since winning The Masters has been disappointing, with rusty performances at both the Zurich Classic and the Truist Championship. It was little surprise therefore, that he had such an underwhelming time at the second major of the year.
Dan Rapaport suggests Rory McIlroy said something Tiger Woods would not have done ahead of the Canadian Open
Obviously, the last few weeks have definitely belonged to Scottie Scheffler. The world number one has won three times in his last four starts, including at Quail Hollow. His smallest margin of victory in that time has been just four shots.
Scheffler has been on another level. But McIlroy’s recent form suggests that he would not have been able to compete with him anyway. And in his press conference ahead of the Canadian Open, McIlroy admitted that it has been tough to grind away on the range.
His comments on not speaking to the media at the PGA Championship have received a lot of attention. But speaking on Dan on Golf, Dan Rapaport admitted that he was a little taken aback by McIlroy’s comments on his motivation levels.
“I found this bit to be a bit more interesting [than his comments on not speaking to the media]. So Rory’s been okay since he came back from winning The Masters, tied for seventh at the Truist, I think he was like 40-something at the PGA, so that, for Rory, is a really bad major. And then with Shane Lowry at the Zurich, it’s hard to tell,” he said.
“But he was the player of the year through The Masters. He had won The Players and The Masters, the two biggest tournaments, all was going his way. That’s shifted, Scottie has won The Memorial. Rory didn’t even play in The Memorial. Scottie won the PGA, Rory was a non-factor in the PGA.
“So he’s saying it’s harder to practice than it was. It’s a very honest thing to say. It’s very different from Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods completed the career grand slam at 25. And I think the way Rory won it contributed to this feeling. I’m sure when Rory won the third leg of the grand slam in 2014, his goal in his career was to complete the career grand slam. It would have been to probably chase Tiger and chase Jack and try and win double digit majors.
“But the longer it went on, the more that this career grand slam, and especially The Masters being the last one, it became such a monkey on his back. And he finally gets it off his back, and then he has this massive exhale, and he’s admitting that he’s had this massive exhale. I can understand that.
“Imagine you’re trying to take your company public. A CEO, he’s been building this company, building this company and in the back of his mind, his white whale has always been selling the company to Microsoft. And then you sell the company to Microsoft and you look around and you’re like ‘well, what’s going on now? What do I do now?’
“And there’s a very famous story about David Duval winning The British Open as the number one player in the world, as high as you could possibly go in golf, and he’s on a private jet on the way back over and he looks at his wife or whoever and says, ‘so is that it? This is it?’ And we all know what happened with David Duval’s career. I’m not saying the mentality was what led to David Duval’s career having a steep drop off. But this is not the first time that a player has admitted to, he said this at the PGA, ‘I have achieved everything I’ve wanted to in the game’. He said, ‘I grew up wanting to win all the majors, I’ve done that’.”
The question Rory McIlroy should have been asked ahead of the Canadian Open
There was plenty to get through with McIlroy on Wednesday. McIlroy divided opinion with his comments on snubbing the media last month. But it seems that there was one subject Rapaport was disappointed to not see the five-time major champion address.
McIlroy disappointed many by deciding to not speak to Jack Nicklaus about skipping The Memorial Tournament last week. The pair are close, with Nicklaus helping McIlroy in his preparations for The Masters.
And Rapaport suggested that McIlroy should have been asked about that situation.
“I am not in Canada, and maybe if I was in Canada, I would have asked Rory McIlroy about the Jack Nicklaus situation, about not calling him, what went into his decision to do that. He was not asked today. I was very surprised that he was not asked today,” he also said.
It is going to be interesting to see how McIlroy’s form, and actions, fluctuate over the coming months. You would imagine that watching Scheffler steal the show may just light a fire in him once again.
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