Rory McIlroy is only 22 years old, and hasn't been out on the big stages for long, yet people have developed a wide range of different feelings for him. He has already developed a quite big fan base, but not long before, a lot of people, particularly Americans, disliked him.
I'm sure there are plenty of golf fans who had a love-hate relationship with McIlroy. Golf fans who at first, liked him a lot, then disliked him, and now began liking him again. This is exactly what my perception of McIlroy was.
McIlroy first began playing on events of the American soil in 2009, where he began becoming well-known to North Americans. That's when I began paying attention to him and began pulling for him slightly when he played in tournaments. Then came 2010 when Rory had that explosive win at Quail Hollow, shooting 66-62 over the weekend to steal the win from Phil Mickelson. That was when I became a BIG fan of McIlroy.
I rooted for him all the way at the British Open when he shot that 63, and felt for him when he backed up that round with an 80. I again pulled for him at the PGA Championship where he had a very close call.
But that was when my admiration for him stopped.
From the end of 2010 to the beginning of 2011 is when he began making a series of what were seen as brash and arrogant comments. His first comment was after the PGA Championship, when he appeared to be kicking Tiger Woods while he was down, by saying that he fancied his chances against Woods at the Ryder Cup, right around the time when Woods was going through a huge slump.
The brash statements continued. He continued to speak bluntly about various subjects, such as by saying that he thinks the Ryder Cup is just an exhibition. And he chose to not play on the PGA Tour in 2011 and wanted to stay in Europe. And he also said he chose to skip the biggest non-major in golf, the Players Championship, because he didn't like the course. That was when he began being widespread disliked for a lot of fans in America.
And that's why when he got off to an indifferent start in 2011, I enjoy watching McIlroy struggle. I enjoyed his struggles even further when McIlroy continued his streak of brash comments. At the Accenture Match Play, he said that the older generation of players are no longer as good as they were anymore.
Which was why I couldn't be happier when McIlroy lost the second round of the Match Play 8 & 7. And I enjoyed counting McIlroy's bogeys and double bogeys at the Honda Classic.
Then came the, then, most hilarious choke of them all. The final round 80 at the Masters. I was laughing my butt off when he triple bogeyed the 10th hole and double bogeyed the 12th hole.
And the hilarity continued the immediate week after when he lsot the Maybank Malaysian Open.
And all this anti-McIlroy trend continued up to the Memorial tournament. That was when the golfing world found out the news that McIlroy was to go to Haiti to help out with the situation there. That's when I began thinking, hey, maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all.
And at the US Open, when McIlroy shot that 65 to open up a 3-stroke lead, I was surprised that the usually so inconsistent McIlroy was playing so well. That was when I began wondering, should I be rooting for or against him? And after seeing his classy post-round interview, I decided that I should be rooting for him. That was when he further proved his classiness.
And I did, continuing to root for McIlroy throughout the week. He played simply lights-out golf all week. Nobody played better than him. He looked so relaxed, and was incredibly clutch, making lots and lots pars, making the odd birdie here and there, and avoiding too many mistakes.
What I enjoyed about McIlroy this week so much was that he brought back lots of memories of Tiger Woods. With Woods's game and future uncertain, there had yet to be any dominating performance for a long, long time. This was the week where McIlroy finally made a dominant performance. He played like how Tiger Woods would play when he was winning all those majors in 2000.
And above all, he showed tremendous class all week. Just exactly what was needed for a champion. A very well-deserved win for him.
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