OAKMONT, PENNSYLVANIA | Remember that old song by Dinah Washington?
What a difference a day makes
24 little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be rain
Its opening verse could scarcely be more appropriate in discussing the visible change in Rory McIlroy’s demeanour between the finish of his third round of the U.S. Open mid-afternoon on Saturday and the conclusion of his fourth round just after lunchtime on Sunday. And the transformation in mood and bearing of one of the game’s leading and well-liked players could be the sort of encouraging news the game needs currently.
On Saturday the Masters champion looked worn out, flat-out tired. There was no vigour in his voice nor any sparkle in his eyes. He answered journalists’ questions in as few words as he could and generally gave the impression that he would rather have been anywhere other than where he was.
Mind you, Saturday McIlroy had just finished a round of 74, 4-over par. He had spent four and a half hours fighting his way around a course so unremitting that even the occasional flashes of pleasure brought by a birdie or the holing of a 50-foot downhill putt on a surface with a Stimpmeter reading of 14.5 do little to staunch the feeling that a player is locked in physical contact with an opponent that is almost certainly going to win.
At various times at Oakmont last week it required fewer than the fingers of one hand, never mind the thumb, to count the number of many of the best players in the world who were under par.
“It’s always nice to get home. I feel like I live two different lives. I’m a dad and a husband when I’m away from here, and then I’m who I am when I’m here. It’s always nice to get away and feel a bit of normality.”
Rory McIlroy
Contrast this with Sunday McIlroy, who talked freely to assembled journalists, looking and sounding happier than he had the night before. Saturday McIlroy and Sunday McIlroy were as night is to day, chalk is to cheese, red wine to white. Saturday McIlroy looked like a man whose request for an overdraft had been declined. Sunday McIlroy resembled a man who had just received a tax rebate.
One reason for the appearance of sunny Sunday McIlroy was that his 67, 3-under par, was seven strokes lower than Saturday McIlroy’s round and now his punishment in Pennsylvania was over. After competing in the Travelers Championship near Hartford, Connecticut, this week, he will head back to Europe. “Yeah, we’ve got a lot to look forward to, got our new house in London, play the Scottish [Open] and then obviously the Open at Portrush,” he said.
Perhaps what Sunday McIlroy was also revealing was that at last he had found some peace in his wrestle with the turbulent wash of his victory at the Masters. “Look, I climbed my Everest in April, and I think after you do something like that, you’ve got to make your way back down, and you’ve got to look for another mountain to climb. An Open at Portrush [in July] is certainly one of those.”
It can be forgotten that the professional golfers whose skills are so far beyond the comprehension of ordinary golfers are fathers, husbands with wives, children, homes to build and look after. On Father’s Day, Sunday McIlroy could scarcely wait to get back to Poppy, his daughter.
“I haven’t seen her yet [today],” he said, smiling at the reference to her. “I was out the door [this morning] before she was up. It’s always nice to get home. I feel like I live two different lives. I’m a dad and a husband when I’m away from here, and then I’m who I am when I’m here. It’s always nice to get away and feel a bit of normality.”
It could also be that McIlroy had lanced the boil of his dispute with the press, which has made him, normally cooperative and talkative, so uncommunicative and visibly distant these past few weeks. He was aggrieved at the way news of his non-conforming driver at the PGA Championship got out when little if anything was said of Scottie Scheffler’s. There may also be some lingering sores with individual journalists.
“The driver thing was part of it,” McIlroy admitted when pressed on the subject on Saturday night. “I skipped you guys [the press] on Thursday at Augusta. So it’s not out of the ordinary [not to talk to the media]. I’ve done it before. I’m just doing it a little more often now.”
The talk on Sunday turned to the coming weeks in Europe. “Look, it will be amazing to go home and play in that atmosphere and see a lot of people that I still haven’t seen yet [since winning the Masters]. It was nice to end this week with a bit of a positive note with the way I played today, and yeah, I’ll just be looking forward to and trying to get myself prepared for Portrush. Hopefully, I can celebrate with them on Sunday night with the Claret Jug and the Green Jacket.
“Physically I feel like my game’s there. It’s just mentally getting myself in the right frame of mind to get the best out of myself.”
“I think, look, if I can’t get motivated to get up for an Open Championship at home, then I don’t know what can motivate me. I just need to get myself in the right frame of mind. I probably haven’t been there the last few weeks. But as I said, getting home and having a couple weeks off before that, hopefully feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, will get me in the right place again.”
The week in Pittsburgh had been arduous. To have been 10-over par after 54 holes was not the sort of play we expect from McIlroy and certainly not what he expects from himself. But his 67 for a 72-hole total of 287 gave him hope for the coming weeks.
“I’d say I finished in the top five in strokes gained off the tee [on Sunday],” he said. “I am really encouraged with the driver and how I drove it as well. I feel like I got a really good feeling in my swing with the driver, which was great. Hopefully I can continue that on into next week. Yeah, it’s close, as I said. Physically I feel like my game’s there. It’s just mentally getting myself in the right frame of mind to get the best out of myself.”
Now he was talking like the McIlroy he hadn’t been since that momentous victory in April. He wasn’t sounding and looking like old McIlroy. Now he resembled the McIlroy of old.
This is important for golf. McIlroy is not just another world-class golfer. He is arguably the most popular golfer in the world, one known as much by his first name as both names. His recent form and mood have been concerning to many in golf. I have lost count of the number of people who have asked me, “What’s the matter with Rory?”
If we have seen the last of Saturday McIlroy and are to see Sunday McIlroy from now on, the world of golf will be a better place.
E-MAIL JOHN
Top: Rory McIlroy is feeling better about his game after a final-round 67 at the U.S. Open.
Cliff Hawkins, Getty Images