RETURN OF THE MAC

By March 2014, Rory was feeling ever more confident that his form had returned; that the struggle of 2013 was over and that he would now be restored to the pinnacle of the golfing world. The Northern Irishman told friends that he had conquered his new equipment at last and that he believed a third Major was now within his grasp. But he was also level-headed enough to concede that a win at any tournament would be handy; that it could prove to be a vital step towards that elusive third Major in terms of boosting his confidence and laying down a marker to his rivals.

Rory had high hopes of success in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona in the middle of February. Victory would have seen him celebrating his sixth win on the PGA circuit – and his first since 2012. He defeated the talented Boo Weekley 3&2 in his opening match, and said, ‘I played well for the first 12 holes. I might have got a bit complacent in the last few holes and gave Boo a couple but I’m just happy to get through to the next round.’

Yet, surprisingly, that would be as far as he would go. In the second round he should have comfortably seen off the challenge of American Harris English, but was taken to a 19th hole and slumped to a surprise defeat as he failed to recover from a poor tee shot. Afterwards Rory admitted he had let what ought to have been a perfunctory triumph slip from his grasp. He said, ‘Obviously I’m a little bit disappointed with how I finished. I didn’t hit the greatest drive off the 19th and got a pretty bad lie in the rough. It was just unfortunate. I played pretty well for the most part. But Harris was really solid today – the more consistent player won at the end of the day. Having said that, I’m comfortable with my game and looking forward to the next challenge.’

Ironically, Rory appeared certain to notch up that first victory of 2014 at the tournament that a year previously had been the scene of one of his most embarrassing moments out on the golf course. Yes, his early, unexpected exit from the Honda Classic in 2013 was an incident he was extremely keen to forget. He had simply walked off the course and the event during a poor second round at the PGA National in Florida – much to the fury of the event organisers and the fans who had come to see him in action.

Quitting a tournament mid-round for no valid reason is simply a no-go area for golfing pros, so by doing so Rory had crossed an unacceptable line. He pulled out after eight painful holes and then continued to dig himself into a proverbial hole by saying he had done so because he had been suffering toothache.

Golfing legend Jack Nicklaus was one of the first to condemn Rory’s actions, saying, ‘He shouldn’t have walked off the golf course. That was unfortunate. I think if he’d thought about it for five minutes he wouldn’t have done it. I just think he was just so frustrated with how he’s been playing the last month or so that it just got to him. That would be my assessment.’

Nicklaus was a man who knew what he was talking about. He had won 18 Majors in a star-studded career and, consequently, his rebuke was all the more damning. It showed how big a mistake Rory had made and how far he had fallen from the young man who could do no wrong. Nicklaus had hit on the reason behind the unacceptable exit: Rory’s frustration at his own form and the poor results he was experiencing after changing his equipment in 2013.

Rory had compounded his withdrawal clanger by changing the story of exactly what had forced him to do it. Initially when asked why he had pulled out, he said it was because he was ‘not in a good place mentally’. But then he changed his mind, saying he had toothache from a troublesome wisdom tooth – only to then bite wholeheartedly into a sandwich in front of the press pack! Rory had said, ‘Apologies to all at the Honda. A tough day made impossible by severe tooth pain. Was desperate to defend title but couldn’t play on. Gutted.’

Rory’s close friend Graeme McDowell had also commented on the blunder, saying he believed Rory was suffering from a crisis of confidence, ‘When you start trying to prove things to other people and you stop playing for yourself it is a very dangerous place to be. He is playing to prove things to the media, playing to the naysayers and people who said he shouldn’t have done what he has done. To me it is not equipment, it’s all technique and a little bit of belief. To me he is not swinging the club the way he was late summer last year. But he will be okay. Once he starts believing in himself again he will be back.’

It had been all the more galling for the spectators who turned up to watch him as Rory was also the defending champion – and they had expected him to put on a show worthy of the title holder, not to flounce off in a huff. To be fair, he would quickly apologise for his behaviour: ‘What I did was not good for the tournament, not good for the kids and the fans who were out there watching me – it was not the right thing to do.’

Twelve months on, and he had the chance to do the right thing; to make amends at the very same course by showing just what he could do with a golf club. He approached the 2014 Honda Classic in Florida with a much different, much more positive attitude and set out to delight a forgiving crowd and truly confine his previous clanger to the dustbin with his first win of the new year.

Rory got off to a good start by making fun of himself when he arrived at the PGA National. ‘I guess I owe the organisers at least 36 holes this time, don’t I?’ he quipped. Then, more seriously, he added, ‘One thing I can promise is that what happened last year won’t happen again.

‘I guess it was a couple of days later when I realised a missed cut would have looked an awful lot better than a withdrawal,’ he continued. ‘You should never do that, no matter how bad things are. But at the time it just felt like one of those days and I simply couldn’t cope with it all anymore. The way I was heading I was going to shoot 90, and that was the last thing I felt I needed.