Rory McIlroy is a Double-Edged Sword

Throughout Rory McIlroy's young career, having only played professionally since 2009, he has already done many things that either hurt him a lot or help him a lot. At one moment he could seem like a man with tremendous amounts of class, will the next moment he will seem like a totally arrogant and immature baby. This has been the case for McIlroy from 2010 to 2011.

The most latest came in the first round of the Irish Open. After his round, golf commentator Jay Townsend made the following tweets regarding McIlroy's round:
"McIlroy's course management was shocking"
"@wenners just made a great point, @mcilroyrory should hire Stevie Williams, as I thought JP allowed some SHOCKING course management today"
"@HunterandIan Some of the worst course management I have ever seen beyond under 10's boys golf competition"

And McIlroy, despite showing so much class and maturity at the Masters and US Open, got his feathers ruffled this time and tweeted back to Townsend:
"@JayATownsend shut up.... You're a commentator and a failed golfer, your opinion means nothing!"

Jay Townsend tweeted back:
"@McIlroyRory Sorry, but I stand by my comments"

And McIlroy responded:
"@JayATownsend well, I stand by my caddie"

Afterwards, Rory blocked Jay Townsend on his Twitter account so he didn't have to read anything that Townsend writes about him anymore.

Here's what happened: Rory got off to a good start, being 4 under par thru 10 holes to hold the outright lead. But he played the last eight holes 3 over par thanks to bogey on 11 and double bogey on 18 along with a series of demonstrations of sloppy course management.

The defining moment of his round came on the 18th hole. He hit a 3 wood and landed in the fairway bunker, when he could have used less club and avoided risking hitting a shot in the bunker. Then, facing a shot over water, McIlroy attacked the flagstick but caught the shot fat and it landed in the water.

So, anyway, I thought Rory took this too much of a big deal. Jay Townsend just gave Rory his honest opinion. Nothing wrong with simple being candid and not mincing words.

And by saying that Rory is a double-edged sword, it's because this kind of thing happened to him many times already on his currently short, but roller-coaster career. As in, as soon as he shows his positive attributes in front of golf fans, he immediately loses their respect with some negative attributes.

Here's what I mean:

Rory had a lot of fans embracing him when he shot that 62 at Quail Hollow in 2010 and then followed it up with a stellar British Open, and showing so much class despite shooting 80 in the second round of St. Andrews.

Then, he immediately gave away the respect by making a series of brash comments. Beginning with him appearing to kick Tiger while he's down by saying he fancies his chances of beating him at the Ryder Cup. Then he says the Ryder Cup is just an exhibition. Then he says he doesn't want to take up PGA Tour membership in 2011. Then he says he skips the Players Championship because he dislikes the course. Then he says the players of the older generation are no longer as good as they used to be.

And then, just as McIlroy went from being a superstar to being Public Enemy Number One, he starts gaining respect from the public once again. First he handled the final-round 80 at Augusta with tremendous class. Then after losing the Malaysian Open he again showed class in his interview. And then he helped UNICEF by making a visit to Haiti and helping the children there. And then he had a very gracious US Open win, which was well received by just about everybody. It seems at that time, that everybody had forgiven him for his past incidents of brash.

But then, just as everybody began loving him again, McIlroy yet again showed why he wasn't as mature and nice as everyone thought he was. After the British Open, he said that he didn't like links golf because of the impact of the weather. Which, honestly, sounded like sour grapes because he didn't play in any tournament since the US Open win. And when that happens you just can't expect to do well. And now, most recently, McIlroy has this incident with Jay Townsend.

So there is Rory McIlroy, the double-edged sword of the PGA Tour. Doing a lot of very nice and classy gestures on one hand, but can also show off a lot of immaturity and arrogance on the other hand.