Robert Karlsson, a tall lanky Swedish professional golfer, withdrew from the British Open last July because he said his game really sucked at that time and he really needed to take some time to repair the basics of his game. Karlsson has had a few noteworthy moments in his career, but let’s face it, Sweden isn’t the first place you think of when you think of international professional golf. How many of you would be able to think of Robert Karlsson’s name if someone asked you to name a golfer from Sweden? So it wasn’t a big deal for Karlsson to exit.
At the Honda Open last week, on March 1 to be exact, a player was having what could be charitably called an off-game and walked off the course on the ninth hole of the second round, and withdrew from the tournament. In this case, however, the golfer in question was Rory McIlory, the 23-year-old golfing wonder-kid from County Down in Northern Ireland who seemed just a few months away from being the new king of professional golf. He went into 2013 as the number one ranked golfer on the PGA Tour. I have to admit that I really don’t follow golf that closely, but I had heard about McIlroy last year on Entertainment Tonight and some other outlets as the new golfing sex symbol, taking Tiger Wood’s place as the main irritant to older white male amateur golfers. (He’s a buddy of Tiger’s). Rory’s excuse for his exit was a painful wisdom tooth that was distracting him but it was more likely that he just tanked and wanted to run and hide.
McIlory signed a deal to play exclusively with NIKE golf clubs this year and he seems to have lost his feel for the shot because he can’t get used to them. Apparently, he used a number of different brands of clubs during the 2011 and 2012 seasons depending on the particular course. What very, very little I know about playing golf came from play rounds at Rustic Gardens with my son, so I was not aware that different brands of clubs could make such a difference in the play of the game, but then my livelihood does not depend on them.
McIlory isn’t the first pro golfer to leave a golf tournament because of poor play. As I pointed out, Robert Karlsson did it. Tiger Woods has done it, Arnold Palmer did it. As a matter of fact it’s happened more than a few times, but right now Rory McIlory is considered the number one professional golfer, so all eyes are on him. We are always watchful of our idols to see if they have feet of clay, or in this case, a wisdom tooth. Rory is going to have to toughen up mentally but that comes with maturity and at 23, Rory still has a bit of growing up to do. I kind of think that the media has been unduly hard on Rory McIlory but again I don’t follow the tour so I am in no position to judge. It may be another case of too much too quickly or then maybe, just maybe, it could be a sore wisdom tooth.
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