Rory McIlroy Loses His Cool at Doral (Video)

The world’s best player continues to fight himself at the WGC-Cadillac Championship. After an opening round 73 on Thursday, Rory McIlroy steadied the ship on Friday with a two under par 70, that had plenty of ups and downs. With six birdies and four bogeys his scorecard looks like my 6^th grade geometry exam. When he walked off the course Golf Channel Announcer Terry Gannon said “he just needs to sit down after that round.” It was a day that had a little bit of everything.

More from Golf News

Before last week it seemed as if the only thing that could stop McIlroy was Mother Nature. She reared her ugly head with brutal winds and drenching rain that caused the game’s best player to get out of sorts. After a weekend of work on the range and then winning the famed Seminole member guest on Monday, things were suppose to be fixed. After a sloppy opening round the alarm bells were going off. When you’ve won the past two majors and are a green jacket away from the career grand slam, three bad rounds can cause chaos.

"“I guess I realize what’s expected of me,” said McIlroy. “But no reason to panic and no reason to be alarmed. Just go out tomorrow and put some red numbers on the board and try and get myself back in it.” (Credit ESPN)"

There may have been no reason to panic but his eighth hole today didn’t help support that. After pulling his approach shot into the water, he decided that one Nike product in the pond wasn’t good enough so he launched his 3-iron into it as well. Maybe he’s working on his baseball swing, it is spring training after all. Or maybe once again his emotions got the best of him.

"“Frustration got the better of me, I’ve been fighting that miss for a couple weeks” McIlroy said. “It felt good at the time but right now I regret it.” (Credit Golf Channel)"

For the second time in his career Rory’s frustration was there for all of us to see. Two years ago at The Honda Classic during his “slump” year of 2013 he was in such disarray on the course that he walked off of it eight holes into his second round. It was obvious that something was wrong that day, he was a shell of the player who had won majors in back-to-back seasons. An announcement came out later on that he bailed because of a toothache, a claim that was obviously false.

Friday wasn’t as bad for McIlroy who actually played much better after his watery club chuck. It’s just someone in his position he can’t be doing that. Yes it’s a little bit of a double standard because we’ve all thrown clubs, heck I’ve thrown them, slammed them and snapped a few on my leg. I’m not one of the recognizable figures in golf though. You won’t see me on television anytime soon hoisting up any trophies. Rory has to be better than this.

"“People are looking for someone to look up to or emulate and you have to keep that in mind,” McIlroy said. “People are watching and people are looking to you as a role model and seeing something like that on the eighth hole today wasn’t very role modelish of me” (Credit Golf Channel)"

It’s good to see that Rory acknowledges the mistake he made, but there needs to be less of this. He’s got all the talent in the world, which was obvious today. It was never easy but he still found a way to keep himself in the tournament. That’s the mark of a good player, but the mark of an elite player is someone who can keep his emotions in check. We’re still waiting to see more of that from him, but then again what twenty something year old kid doesn’t fly off the handle at times? He’ll figure it out and it will only make him better if that is even possible.

Next: Adam Scott ays Goodbye To The Anchored Putter

More from Pro Golf Now

Home/Golf News