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Among the multitude of things that Rory McIlroy has grown into since he exploded in curly-haired radiance onto the American golf scene nearly a decade ago – husband, father, four-time major champion, on-and-off world No. 1, the face of worldwide marketing campaigns – we can add one more.
McIlroy has become the voice and the conscience of professional golf.
The game is better for it.
When McIlroy is asked to comment on the relevant subject of the moment, it’s because his opinion matters. His voice may not settle an issue but it carries enough weight that it can sway opinion, almost always in the direction of what’s right and what’s best.
Arnold Palmer had that. Jack Nicklaus has had that. Tiger Woods, too, though he seemed reluctant at times to involve himself too deeply.
Now it’s McIlroy, not just because of what he has accomplished in his career but because he has a way of grasping what is important, what is consequential and, just as importantly, what isn’t.
He is unfiltered but in a constructive way. He is one of three candidates – Russell Knox and Kevin Streelman are the others – nominated to be chairman of the PGA Tour’s player advisory council, which comes with a three-year seat on the tour’s powerful policy board.
McIlroy is a level head with a wide worldview. For a guy who didn’t go to college, McIlroy is well educated ... it’s rare to leave a conversation with him and not feel enlightened in some way.
Last week was an example of McIlroy using his platform to make a point that needed to be made.
He was finishing a pre-tournament video conference with reporters before the Waste Management Phoenix Open and expressed surprise that he had not been asked about the new material in the Distance Insights report from the R&A and USGA that had been issued a day earlier, pointing toward potential rules adjustments down the road.
“No one asked me the equipment question,” McIlroy told the moderator.
“Well, we can open back up the mics if you’d like,” the moderator said.
“Sure, I would be here all day for that,” McIlroy said.
In a week where some players wore talking points like equipment company logos, McIlroy shared his personal thoughts.
“So I think the authorities, the R&A and USGA, are looking at the game through such a tiny little lens, that what they're trying to do is change something that pertains to 0.1 percent of the golfing community,” he said. “99.9 percent of the people play this game for enjoyment, for entertainment. They don't need to be told what ball or clubs to use.
“We have to make the game as easy and approachable as possible for the majority of golfers. Honestly, I think this Distance Insight report has been a huge waste of time and money, because that money that it’s cost to do this report could have been way better distributed to getting people into the game, introducing young kids to the game, introducing minorities to the game. I heard (USGA chief executive officer) Mike Davis say something about we’re trying to protect the game for the next hundred years.
“This isn’t how you do it. This is so small and inconsequential compared to the other things happening in the game. It’s the grassroots. It’s getting more people engaged in golf. That’s where they should be spending their money, not spending it on the Distance Insight report.”
That’s not what rulesmakers wanted to hear but McIlroy respectfully disagrees with their approach to a complicated problem.
Nor did he necessarily take the line of TaylorMade, which pays him handsomely. Though David Abeles, TaylorMade’s chief executive officer, issued a strong statement in 2017 saying the company is strongly opposed to any equipment rollbacks or bifurcation, Abeles has made no public comment since the most recent update from the R&A and USGA.
Equipment companies are in the business of selling clubs and balls and they want us to believe that we can play exactly what McIlroy plays if we so choose. They see a perceived sales and innovation threat from having the best players in the world playing modified equipment. It’s an understandable concern.
Perhaps bifurcation is the way to go.
“I would be all for that,” McIlroy said. “If they want to try to make the game more difficult for us or ... try to incorporate more skill to the game, yeah, I would be all for that, because I think it only benefits the better player, which I feel like I am.”
The game is already bifurcated. Just ask Davis, one of the leaders in the effort to get a grip on the growing distance challenge.
“We already bifurcate the game right now,” Davis said in a conference call. “What tees are you going to play from, 5,000 yards or 7,000 yards?”
" ... That money that it’s cost to do this report could have been way better distributed to getting people into the game, introducing young kids to the game, introducing minorities to the game."
Rory McIlroy
In the same way a team needs a leader, the professional game needs one too. PGA Tour players love to talk about how they are independent contractors and they are, but they are a collective group that holds enormous sway in the industry and across the game. For all the talk about what the ruling bodies may decide, the PGA Tour could always choose to go its own way.
McIlroy is a level head with a wide worldview. For a guy who didn’t go to college, McIlroy is well educated. He reads to learn and the list of completed titles in his bookcase is impressive. Others may try to impress with what they know. McIlroy isn’t that way but it’s rare to leave a conversation with him and not feel enlightened in some way.
He is open enough to admit that he stayed awake after his T16 finish at the Farmers Insurance Open, wondering if he had done the right thing during his embedded-ball moment at Torrey Pines.
“It was a bit of a rough Sunday night,” McIlroy said. “I just started to doubt myself a little bit, which is not like me.”
It’s a bit of illumination on who McIlroy is. Having listened to him and talked to him for nearly a decade, there’s no one like him on the PGA Tour. This isn’t about why he hasn’t won a major since 2014 nor a tournament in 15 months.
It’s about the person. As the PGA Tour and European Tour embark on a strategic alliance, McIlroy understands them both. As a player, he knows what the game needs and what it doesn’t. More than that, McIlroy has a sense of what’s right and follows it.
It’s what the game – and beyond – needs.
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