Rory's comments after round 4 ...

Firstly, massive congratulations to Darren Clarke. Absolutely delighted for the guy. As has been posted already, he's one of the most popular Major winners in a very long time.

Just wanted to comment on Rory's "interesting" interview comments though. Big fan of the young guy, but I was honestly dumbfounded when he said he wouldn't be changing his game for the Open as they only played links golf one week a year ... and that he thought his game COULD win the Open, but only if it was nice weather! That's pretty much the gist of what he said, wasn't it? If he actually meant that then surely it's right up there with his comments about the Ryder Cup being an exhibition event! It's THE Open championship, the most important event on the golfing calendar ... yet he wouldn't be considering any changes which might make his game more effective for links golf in challenging weather? Naive? Stupid? Arrogant? All of those? I'm sure he could find the time to develop a more all round game. Hey, maybe spend a couple of hours a day less on tweeting ...

With his putting stroke, you would think he would channel alot of his efforts into winning The Open.

Also, someone needs to have a word with him about what he says, as at times he comes accross as really ignorant

JDandfries wrote:With his putting stroke, you would think he would channel alot of his efforts into winning The Open.

Also, someone needs to have a word with him about what he says, as at times he comes accross as really ignorant

Hopefully they don't, we don't need another sanitised golfer coming out with media trained cliches.

I agree that it was a bit of a silly comment but the weather that he endured all week was pretty brutal and he knows that a nice sunny four days at another Open will suit his game as it is. His Ryder cup comments were stupid but after playing in one he now knows and acknowledges how stupid they were - he's still a young guy so we can't expect everything that he says to be enlightening and he has shown that he has the humility to come out and admit when he is wrong so I'm happy not to judge him too much for this...

Of course, even the bit about only playing links golf one week a year was a bit daft. Castle Stuart? The Dunhill?

s_r ... I certainly wouldn't want Rory to be restricted to media trained cliches. Just think he's WAY off the mark with these comments though. Can you imagine Nicklaus or Player not wanting to work on aspects of their game to help win the big one?

He obviously wasn't best pleased with his round, Sergio was quite pumped up after holing his putt on the 18th, he shook hands with Rory afterwards and whatever Rory said to him wiped the huge smile off his face instantly.

Rory should've played between the US Open and The Open, I honestly think he expected to win at Sandwich in similar style. I think the reality check was a shock to his system.

Huge congratulations to Big Darren, he was so cool calm and collected, loved his eagle on the 7th & had a tears in my eyes at the end!

I thought it was a bit off myself. Especially as he's grown up playing links. He could have just said he'll have to try harder. At least he doesn't "thank god" in his interviews.

I think sometimes McIlroy tends to speak before he thinks. I'm not sure when he said these things but maybe he could do with taking an hour to think about what he's going to say, it would have been nice if he's said it just wasn't his week but hope Clarke can see it through.

I didn't notice Rory around the 18th green waiting to congratulate Darren?

I think Rory's comments may well be indicative of why lots of players failed to perform at the Open. DC was playing lots of knock down shots, as were the likes of Fowler and Mickelson. I suggested in an earlier thread that the americans were successful at the Open because the game isn't as different as some think. I'm happy to now admit that, this year at least, I was completely wrong, and the Championship threw up a very clear distinction between those players who could deal with the conditions and those who either couldn't or wouldn't.

SmithersJones ... Yes, Open golf (especially in those weather conditions) certainly demands a different type of shot at times. I could understand some of foreign players not being able/willing to adapt their games ... BUT surely Rory was brought up on links golf in dodgy weather?! Of course, he might have been more in tune for the challenge had he turned up at Castle Stuart the week before. He didn't appear to have his 'A' game at any point during the 4 rounds of the Open ... and was given a bit of a links golf lesson by Fowler on Saturday, and to an extent by Sergio on Sunday.

jockneyboy wrote:I didn't notice Rory around the 18th green waiting to congratulate Darren?

No, I didn't either which was a bit of a surprise.

Re. whatever his comments were, sounds a bit silly and I don't accept that even if it's good weather he'll necessarily win playing his normal game. If he isn't prepared to think his shots/course strategy through, he'll be lucky to bag that Jug.

He could be waiting a very long time, for 4 days of non windy weather on a links course which coincide with the Open Championship, which coincide with him playing the best golf that week...

He's young, he'll say daft things, it was a strange thing to say and i think it showed a certain amount of ignorance/arrogance but he'll grow up, and i'm sure we'll see the day when he's hitting knock down shots at the Open...

I would just like to contrast this with Kaymers decision to try and work a draw into his game to he can compete better and Augusta, which some are saying is the reason for his lacklustre performances since he lapped the field in Abu Dhabi.

Kaymer missed the cut again this year but he has the desire to get better and improve...after winning a Major and being European and World No. 1... he got a few years on Rory though so maybe that few years maturity is counting for a lot.

But was it worth it for Kaymer? The proof of the pudding will be in the eating I guess.. he's been looking more like the Kaymer of last year recently so I expect a strong end to year...

As I aid yesterday he aught to have stayed in school beyond 14, as his ignorance and lack of intelligence must surely not have been helped by having no qualifications.

Does he think DC’s win is invalid because it was too weather dependent? In Rory’s mind changing your style to suit difficult weather conditions is just no the done thing, why not only he knows.

I am all for him speaking his mind and I am glad to hear these comments as I need to know if he is a fool and whether to attach any respect to what he says. Sadly not much can be taken from his immature and ignorant position on most things.

McLaren wrote:As I aid yesterday he aught to have stayed in school beyond 14, as his ignorance and lack of intelligence must surely not have been helped by having no qualifications.

Does he think DC’s win is invalid because it was too weather dependent? In Rory’s mind changing your style to suit difficult weather conditions is just no the done thing, why not only he knows.

I am all for him speaking his mind and I am glad to hear these comments as I need to know if he is a fool and whether to attach any respect to what he says. Sadly not much can be taken from his immature and ignorant position on most things.

Sounds like you should have stayed in school too Mac.

SR

Sounds like you might be a real ass hole but I have always over looked this failing in you.

Rossa ... Interesting point about Kaymer, and his swing changes certainly don't seem to be helping his game ... well, not yet anyway.

Not sure it's quite the same thing for Rory though. Don't think anyone would change his swing. Just think he needs to learn to play the knock down shots in windy weather, which is more about a half swing/punch, than altering his full swing. As I've already said though, I'm not sure why he would need to be "learning" these type of shots, having been brought up on links golf in wet/windy weather! This shouldn't be new to him at all. He seemed to be suggesting that the conditions were basically responsible for his inability to compete. Bit of a cop out, surely ... as it seemed more down to his inability to find a fairway, followed by pretty mediocre chipping and putting to me! Hopefully he'll learn that smashing a driver and hitting full, towering irons ain't going to work on a links in dodgy weather ... although I thought that pretty much everybody knew that already.

Joke of course. Before the mods go into hyperdrive.

McLaren wrote:As I aid yesterday he aught to have stayed in school beyond 14, as his ignorance and lack of intelligence must surely not have been helped by having no qualifications.

Does he think DC’s win is invalid because it was too weather dependent? In Rory’s mind changing your style to suit difficult weather conditions is just no the done thing, why not only he knows.

I am all for him speaking his mind and I am glad to hear these comments as I need to know if he is a fool and whether to attach any respect to what he says. Sadly not much can be taken from his immature and ignorant position on most things.

Qualifications have very little bearing on intelligence and to suggest that him staying in school would have made a difference in his comments suggests to me that you are educated but not intelligent.

Rory is still young and will continue to make comments that people do not like until he is old and experienced enough to just give an uninteresting Lee Westwood interview. He might win an Open with his current game, he might have to change it. It's not as if he is missing Open cuts and needs to have a massive re-think and he is right when he says that he would be foolish to change his whole game for a week or two. There's enough other tournaments that are missing from his CV that his current game is fine for...

Im sure McIlroy would want an Open on his CV. But the week in week out tests that he and the vast majority of other pros face are more likely to be found at the other 3 majors and I expect that he sees that as more of a benchmark for measuring his game.

Diggers wrote:Im sure McIlroy would want an Open on his CV. But the week in week out tests that he and the vast majority of other pros face are more likely to be found at the other 3 majors and I expect that he sees that as more of a benchmark for measuring his game.

And right now, surely an easier way to win them if his game is already suited? I'm pretty sure that if he can win the Masters and PGA over the next few years and then sling in a couple of WGC events then he will rethink his game to add The Open to his wins. Until then, why change something that is already suitable for 50 weeks a year...

Sharrison

Whether that is true with regards to my intelligence or education level is besides the points as we are discussing Rory here. What is true is that although education my not be the only marker or even a reliable marker of raw intelligence it does provide some benefits to some types of intelligence. One being the ability to know how to learn, an in Rory’s case this is in stark contrast to someone like DC or Rickie Fowler who both appreciate how to learn a new type of conditions. There is also a lot to be said for the benefits of knowing basic history and general knowledge about your environment, again in Rory’s case sadly lacking. If he knew anything about the history of the game and how it was intended to be played he would see how ludicrous his comments were.

There is a lot to be said for learning for learning’s sake.

McLaren wrote:Joke of course. Before the mods go into hyperdrive.

Why would they go hyperactive when you refer to him as a form of donkey?

McLaren wrote:Sharrison

Whether that is true with regards to my intelligence or education level is besides the points as we are discussing Rory here. What is true is that although education my not be the only marker or even a reliable marker of raw intelligence it does provide some benefits to some types of intelligence. One being the ability to know how to learn, an in Rory’s case this is in stark contrast to someone like DC or Rickie Fowler who both appreciate how to learn a new type of conditions. There is also a lot to be said for the benefits of knowing basic history and general knowledge about your environment, again in Rory’s case sadly lacking. If he knew anything about the history of the game and how it was intended to be played he would see how ludicrous his comments were.

There is a lot to be said for learning for learning’s sake.

I don't think that there is that much to be said for learning for learning's sake unless you wish to entertain old ladies on The Eggheads. Rory has a point - his game is suited to 50 weeks a year of golf so until he has won all that his current game is suited to, why bother to change things for The Open. He didn't play that badly this week and given some good weather would not need to change much to win The Open. I don't get how there can be this much outrage to a few comments that are not really that far off the mark.

Mac, if you are going to question someone's education, then it's probably prudent that you show some of your own.

Dave The Jackal wrote:Rossa ... Interesting point about Kaymer, and his swing changes certainly don't seem to be helping his game ... well, not yet anyway.

Not sure it's quite the same thing for Rory though. Don't think anyone would change his swing. Just think he needs to learn to play the knock down shots in windy weather, which is more about a half swing/punch, than altering his full swing. As I've already said though, I'm not sure why he would need to be "learning" these type of shots, having been brought up on links golf in wet/windy weather! This shouldn't be new to him at all. He seemed to be suggesting that the conditions were basically responsible for his inability to compete. Bit of a cop out, surely ... as it seemed more down to his inability to find a fairway, followed by pretty mediocre chipping and putting to me! Hopefully he'll learn that smashing a driver and hitting full, towering irons ain't going to work on a links in dodgy weather ... although I thought that pretty much everybody knew that already.

Yeah agree the specifics are different its more just the drive to improve...

As I said Kaymer bagged a Major, the R2D and became World Number One but still saw an area to improve, i'm sure being able to play a draw will help on many courses but he didn't need to do it in order be a world player, he'd already achieved so much be hitting it straight or with a fade. You could argue that in that case tried to learn a specific shot to win a specific tournament.

The same could be said for McIlroy, being able to hit it low will be of benefit on any course where the wind blows, not just links... but he basically said he was a fair weather player, and that's it... So are we to assume he has basically mentally written off his chances of competing in events where its windy... its a naive standpoint to take ..

I can't imagine Kaymer coming off at Augusta where he has never made the cut and saying, "This golf course, requires a draw, which i'm no good at, i'm not going to change my game for 1 tournament a year... so there..."

I'm not being too down on McIlroy, he a breath of fresh air in interviews and he will make stupid statements every now and again, he'll learn and cringe at these king of things in the future i'm sure.

Rory might not know that a tomato is a fruit but he would't put it in a fruit salad. Leaving school, where you essentially learn how to pass exams. has not done Rory and harm whatsoever...

Rossa wrote:He could be waiting a very long time, for 4 days of non windy weather on a links course which coincide with the Open Championship, which coincide with him playing the best golf that week...

He's young, he'll say daft things, it was a strange thing to say and i think it showed a certain amount of ignorance/arrogance but he'll grow up, and i'm sure we'll see the day when he's hitting knock down shots at the Open...

I would just like to contrast this with Kaymers decision to try and work a draw into his game to he can compete better and Augusta, which some are saying is the reason for his lacklustre performances since he lapped the field in Abu Dhabi.

Kaymer missed the cut again this year but he has the desire to get better and improve...after winning a Major and being European and World No. 1... he got a few years on Rory though so maybe that few years maturity is counting for a lot.

But was it worth it for Kaymer? The proof of the pudding will be in the eating I guess.. he's been looking more like the Kaymer of last year recently so I expect a strong end to year...

Not that he came close to winning on Sunday but Kaymer made the cut.

I think Rossa was talking about Kaymer missing the cut at Augusta

I don't think the type of golf Rory played 10 years ago has much bearing, tbh. The same goes for those UK players who missed the cut - regardless of where they learned their games, since turning pro (or even before) they'll have developed the type of ball flight that helps them compete week in, week out on tour. Rory famously has a high right to left flight, which isn't exactly useful on a links but which is great just about everywhere else. Westwood moves it the other way mostly but said himself that prior to working on a lower flight he 'couldn't have hit those type of shots' (of course he proved that no matter how high or low you hit it, you still need to be able to putt!).

Theres no doubt players like McIroy, Garcia got shafted with their draws but thought McIroys interview after his round was extremely poor to say the least.

He is still young, and I will forgive him, but he does come accross as very petulant sometimes!

I dont know what he said to sergio, but you're right it wiped a smile off his face!

Sand wrote:Theres no doubt players like McIroy, Garcia got shafted with their draws but thought McIroys interview after his round was extremely poor to say the least.

Agreed. I was gutted that Rory and Segio had such poor weather but then Fowler showed on Saturday that it wasn't unplayable. He was one of the very few that managed to compete on that area of the draw though...

I didn't realize Rory left school THAT early. I fully agree with Mac that learning for learning's sake is a very good thing. Both Rory and GMac have won the US Open -- but almost everyone thinks Rory's upside is much greater after the year he's had. This was the first major he went in as the favorite and I'm sure it won't be the last. He'll need to learn to play with the lofty expectations. IF Tiger can get any form back, he and Rory going head-to-head could be great fun to watch.

I don't really see how learning for learning's sake is a particularly good thing unless you wish to work in education or be on a quiz show...

I don't think he left that early Shot, I think Mac was just being a wag. It's not victorian dadys anymore, I don't think you can leave before you are 16.

Davie wrote:I think Rossa was talking about Kaymer missing the cut at Augusta

Aye right on Davie

super_realist wrote:I don't think he left that early Shot, I think Mac was just being a wag. It's not victorian dadys anymore, I don't think you can leave before you are 16.

I don't think he was 14 but i'm pretty sure left earlier than normally permitted as he was given permission by his headteacher... i'm sure i saw that in a documentary or read it or summat...

Rossa wrote:

super_realist wrote:I don't think he left that early Shot, I think Mac was just being a wag. It's not victorian dadys anymore, I don't think you can leave before you are 16.

I don't think he was 14 but i'm pretty sure left earlier than normally permitted as he was given permission by his headteacher... i'm sure i saw that in a documentary or read it or summat...

Probably had a tutor with him on his travels til he was 16 then

Maybe Rory needs to invest in a Taylormade R11, I was amazed how many of the players in contention were using one. Great advertising for Taylormade, I bet sales are booming!

If you believe the hype though of each and every new version of TM driver being longer than the last then the original TM driver must have been rubbish and gone about 10 yards.

I think it's just that TM are the biggest sponsor of players on tour so they appear ubiquitous.

And of course the R11 is very recognisable...

There is a lot to be said for the techniques used in learning such as research and how to ensure you have understood something. We are not talking about learning stuff for quiz shows but putting the time in to learn about an event in history or about another culture. The process of learning, the analysis of the information and what you ultimately learn will all have benefits. It is always good to broaden your knowledge and therefore the context in which you make decisions.

As for his education I do not know his exact leaving date but he did not attain the NI version of GCSE/Standard grades.

SR, yes well unfortunately spelling was never my strong point, but thankfully Microsoft invented word. As far as I know they have not invented anything to make up for the lack of a high school education.

McLaren wrote:SR, yes well unfortunately spelling was never my strong point, but thankfully Microsoft invented word. As far as I know they have not invented anything to make up for the lack of a high school education.

Quite right. That was Google.

SmithersJones wrote:

McLaren wrote:SR, yes well unfortunately spelling was never my strong point, but thankfully Microsoft invented word. As far as I know they have not invented anything to make up for the lack of a high school education.

Quite right. That was Google.

And Wikipedia

That doesn't really sound like the sort of thing that you get out of the British education system. I studied to a high level and think that the education system promotes learning but does not place nearly as much emphasis on becoming intelligent.

They are very different things and I think that Rory has a good enough level of intelligence despite his possible lack of knowledge.

personally I didnt mind his comments in his interview and i kind of agree with what he is saying... even though he could have been a bit more diplomatic about it.
The thing i really have an issue with though is his lack of support for DC in the aftermath. Darren Clarke has been so good to Rory as a mentor and a friend.... i think the least he could have done was been there to congratulate him.

Hend, I agree that he may have been a bit more diplomatic but I would rather him say the odd controversial thing than be the epitome of diplomacy like a lot of the players.

I also thought it strange that he wasn't there at the end but then maybe he didn't want to take any of the focus from what was a special moment. I'm sure he caught up with him at some point during the celebrations...

The great thing about Rory in interviews is he is not afraid to answer questions honestly. The bad thing about Rory in interviews is that he answers question honestly.
“I'd rather play when it's 80 degrees and sunny and not much wind.” That is a terrible thing to say surely he should have said that he loves playing in driving rain even better if there is a wintery mix. Nothing better than having hailstones being driven by a 40 mile an hour wind pockmarking you face and hands.
So while I can’t see anything wrong with what Rory said it does not send out a very good message, I remember in the past Harrington saying that he like playing tournament when the weather was bad because half of the field had given up before they started and Darren said before the 4th round that he hoped it was rainy and windy.
Rory just won his third tournament as a professional in his third year out on tour, yes he won it in great style and klooks to have a great future in the game but to them compare him to Tiger and Jack well it’s all a little bit too soon… Maybe when he has won 20 tournaments and 4 or 5 majors we will have some idea of what his golfing legacy will be but the media went crazy and we all went along for the ride.

hogie ... That would be a fair point if what he'd said was “I'd rather play when it's 80 degrees and sunny and not much wind.” We would all agree with those sentiments, but that's not what he said at all. He basically said that he wouldn't be making any efforts to adapt his game for future Open conditions, as they only played on links one week a year. That's what I was questioning. Apart from the obvious that they play links golf at least 3 weeks a year, not one, how can any major sportsman be so off hand about not being prepared to put the effort in to compete in THE major event of their season? Just seems a really odd statement to make, regardless of how disappointed he was that he hadn't blown away the field again playing "his" game. Don't get me wrong ... I really like the guy and what he brings to golf, but those comments really didn't sound great. It almost suggested that he sees his game as "complete", other than when it's wet and windy on links. Week in, week out, I think his putting and chipping could be far better, for starters ... on ANY course. The true greats are constantly looking to improve.