Early in Ukraine’s war against Russia’s invading armies, PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh was with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and asked if she could offer any encouragement about the Ukranians’ situation.
“She said there is an old saying that history makes leaders rather than leaders making history. People are disposed to step up when called upon,” Waugh remembers Rice telling him, pointing to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s emergence as an extraordinary leader.
Rory McIlroy’s calling doesn’t come with lives and the fate of nations in the balance, but the old adage Rice offered applies to the 33-year-old Northern Irishman. He has evolved into the voice, the face and soulful leader of the PGA Tour and its players against the ongoing challenge presented by LIV Golf and its bottomless well of money.
Listen to McIlroy in one of his press conferences or in private moments and he offers more than clarity and perspective on golf’s fractured present and uncertain future. McIlroy offers a reason to believe.
Raised in tiny Holywood, Northern Ireland, where his parents worked multiple jobs to allow him to pursue golf, McIlroy has emerged as more than the PGA Tour’s man of the moment.
Blessed with intelligence, instinct and inspiration, McIlroy is that charismatic character whose head and heart have led him to lead not just the resistance to LIV’s temptations but to creating a new path forward for the PGA Tour. He is guided not by greed but by gratitude and common sense.
“We’re watching greatness. He’s always been a better person than he is a golfer. He has a keen sense of history and right and wrong.”
PGA OF AMERICA CEO SETH WAUGH
McIlroy believes in allowing each person to make his own decisions, but he has left no doubt about his allegiance, adding that he expects to feel awkward this week at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in England, where 18 LIV golfers are expected to be in the field.
“If you believe in something, I think you have to speak up, and I believe very strongly about this. I really do,” McIlroy said when asked about his advocacy on behalf of the PGA Tour. “I feel strongly. I believe what I'm saying are the right things, and I think when you believe that what you're saying is the right things, you're happy to stick your neck out on the line.”
It is hardly a surprise that when McIlroy was asked a few years ago about the books that have influenced him, he mentioned a handful of self-improvement titles whose impacts have been manifested into the person we see today.
“The Greatest Salesman In The World” by the late Og Mandino is about using failure and struggle to further one’s self-belief. “The Obstacle Is The Way” by Ryan Holiday is about perseverance and resilience.
Two months after shooting a final-round 80 to lose the 2011 Masters, McIlroy responded by winning his first major championship at the U.S. Open. More recently, McIlroy was gutted by his inability to close out the Open Championship at St. Andrews but became the first player to win three FedEx Cup championships by rallying from six shots behind in the final round at the recent Tour Championship.
After the final round at East Lake, Brad Faxon, McIlroy’s coach and confidante, stood with caddie Harry Diamond.
“We said to each other, how does he do it?” Faxon said. “To throw on him what’s been thrown on him, not just the past couple of weeks but getting on the (PGA Tour) Policy Board… When was the last time Phil (Mickelson) or (Greg) Norman did that? I’d say never.”
McIlroy is underpinned by the foundation that his parents, Gerry and Rosie, created for him. His mother worked night shifts at a factory, and his father worked multiple jobs including tending bar in the evening, living the axiom that the job that matters more than any other is that of being a parent.
“What’s remarkable to me is he turned pro at 17, never finished high school, but he’s incredibly gifted. He’s book-smart and street-smart,” Faxon said. “He’s a voracious reader and an incredible entrepreneur, and he’s philanthropic as well. All of that comes from how he was raised. Like Arnold (Palmer), Jack (Nicklaus) and Tiger (Woods), Rory has tremendous support from his parents in being raised the right way. That’s the foundation of so much of Rory.”
It’s why McIlroy is next in line as keeper of the flame for the PGA Tour. Like Palmer shared and then passed the responsibility to Nicklaus, who did likewise with Woods, now it’s McIlroy’s turn.
Like Palmer and Nicklaus did in the late 1960s when they led the PGA Tour’s separation from the PGA of America, McIlroy and Woods came together this summer to guide the restructuring of the PGA Tour. They are today’s Jack and Arnie.
“That’s a fair comparison,” Adam Scott said.
In announcing the coming changes to the structure of the PGA Tour, commissioner Jay Monahan – who was in regular contact with McIlroy, Woods and their small group as the proposals were being shaped – praised the players’ leadership, calling it “a remarkable moment.”
It speaks to McIlroy’s belief in the PGA Tour. He dismissed the LIV Golf offer early. Though he was mistaken when he called the idea “dead in the water” after Phil Mickelson’s controversial comments were made public during the Genesis Invitational in February, McIlroy has been steadfast in his commitment to the tour.
“It's the right thing to do,” said McIlroy, whose 22 PGA Tour victories include four major championships. “The PGA Tour has certainly given me a lot of opportunities, and I've benefited a lot from that, but I think what they've done for charity… If you put all the other major sporting organizations in this country – so, NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, if you put all their charitable dollars combined – the PGA Tour has raised twice as much as that in their history.
“That is a massive legacy and something that I don't think people talk enough about, so when you are talking about the tour and everything that's happening right now, you have to see the bigger picture than just the golf.”
McIlroy’s choice of words is interesting. He talks about the opportunities the tour has given him, not the money or the trophies, which he also appreciates.
“The world has traded in gratitude for entitlement in a lot of ways,” said Waugh, who has known McIlroy for more than a decade. “He has enormous gratitude for how lucky he is.”
When McIlroy was shopping for his first house in the United States, he sought Waugh’s counsel because, in part, his parents were still in Northern Ireland. He has cultivated relationships with business leaders at Augusta National and Seminole, and he has not been reluctant to ask for their advice.
Among McIlroy’s many gifts is his willingness to listen. He may do that as well as he speaks, and he’s in golf’s all-time interview hall of fame because of his inherent honesty and, in moments, his willingness to share his vulnerabilities.
It’s easy to see through public figures who say what they think we want to hear. In McIlroy’s case, he allows us to see into him.
He has surrounded himself with smart and good people, notably his long-time manager Sean O’Flaherty. McIlroy’s business enterprise is expanding – joining Woods in TMRW Sports is the latest example – and he has always had an eye on a world outside the tournament ropes.
“Really successful people have multiple interests that makes them better at their primary interest,” Waugh said. “You network, you learn, you think differently. Most dig in vertically, but true excellence to superiority comes from integrating things horizontally in your life, and Rory has done that.”
Through these past few months when the professional game has turned divisive, sometimes bitter and suddenly uncertain, McIlroy has found his peace with his wife, Erica, and their 2-year-old daughter, Poppy. He also has savored his hours on the golf course, a respite from the often-angry noise outside.
When McIlroy started the Tour Championship by hitting his opening tee shot out of bounds, leading to a triple bogey that seemed to doom his already long chances to chasing down world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, he played on.
McIlroy reached the final round six strokes behind and needing a touch of magic and some help from Scheffler to win. That’s the way it happened.
Maybe it was fate. Maybe it was karma. Maybe it was just Rory McIlroy being Rory McIlroy.
“We’re watching greatness,” Waugh said. “He’s always been a better person than he is a golfer. He has a keen sense of history and right and wrong.
“He’s always had a huge true north.”
It has led McIlroy here, where the game and history have called him.
E-Mail Ron