PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. ?Someone needs to explain this one to me.
When Rory McIlroy won the U.S. Open by eight strokes two years ago, he did so under a probing microscope with all of the attention focused solely on him. Same for when he won last year뭩 Honda Classic and became the world뭩 No. 1-ranked golfer for the first time. And again at the PGA Championship, where he also won by eight with even more eyeballs watching his every maneuver.
Yet this past week, when McIlroy scrambled away from PGA National without even finishing his ninth hole in the second round of the Honda, citing severe tooth pain that affected his concentration, there was a prevailing feeling that he was struggling to handle the pressure in an appropriate manner. The pressure of being No. 1; the pressure of living up to the standards of his mammoth new Nike Golf contract; the pressure of the media뭩 watchful eye.
How quickly we forget.
Posnanski: McIlroy facing crippling pressure of being No. 1
It may have been a mistake to walk off mid-round ?check that, it was a mistake ?but this was clearly more isolated incident than repeated pattern. If the 23-year-old has proven anything in recent years, it뭩 that the maturity level of his golf game may be surpassed only by his maturity level as a person.
Let뭩 face it: He not only survives in the spotlight, he thrives in it.
Even so, McIlroy뭩 recent withdrawal has placed a spotlight on the spotlight, so to speak, drawing attention to all of the attention that he draws on a daily basis. There are very few people who will ever understand what it뭩 like to live in that spotlight ?and even fewer who understand what it뭩 like to try to hit a golf ball in it. Those who do contend that it뭩 only natural for McIlroy to wrestle with the notion at times.
밒've been through it for a long time,?Tiger Woods said. 밫his is a slightly different era, as well. It's even faster than what it was when I came out. Things are instantaneous around the world.?/P>
밫iger grew up with it since he was a child,?explains Martin Kaymer. 밃ll the media, all the attention. But for the rest of us, it뭩 not normal. It really takes some time.?/P>
Kaymer is a perfect example of a player who has shied away from that spotlight. After climbing the world ranking and even winning a major championship in relative mainstream anonymity, he became No. 1 early in the 2011 season and immediately learned about life in that bubble.
밇verything you do, everything you say all of a sudden becomes very important. You뭨e not really used to that,?Kaymer continues. 밐e should enjoy being here and I don뭪 think that he뭩 doing that at the moment. It뭩 very tough when someone is that young in the spotlight. Obviously, he made it himself because of his success, but on the other hand, people should take it a little bit easier or else we might lose him. He뭩 such a great player. Now he뭩 going through a tough time and has to find his own way to deal with it.?/P>
Ask any elite player and he will contend that the pressure intensifies as the profile grows. Internal pressure, yes, but external pressure as well. In particular, it뭩 the media scrutiny which can force second-guessing and confidence loss and myriad other residual issues.
밐e뭩 so young and I think the media makes it tough for him,?Kaymer says. 밫here are more expectations, because of you guys. It뭩 true. Media and the Facebook and the Twitter; it all makes a difference. Even if you try to avoid it, sometimes you get confronted by it. You hear different opinions even though you don뭪 ask for them. It does happen and it does make a difference to your attitude. That뭩 just how it is. It뭩 not very nice. He뭩 23 years old. He should enjoy playing golf, not having to deal with all that crap.?/P>
밒t must be so tough,?said Charl Schwartzel, who tasted his share of the attention after winning the 2011 Masters. 밃ll he wants to do is play golf and everyone is all over him and bothering him. The guy just wants to play golf. I feel sorry for him.?/P>
밯e were still in fax machines, things were a little bit slower,?Woods recalls about being a 23-year-old superstar. 밳ou've just got to think about it a little bit more before you say something or do something. It can get out of hand, especially when you get into social media and start tweeting and all those different things that can go wrong.?/P>
There aren뭪 many fellow players who know McIlroy as well as Graeme McDowell, a friend and countryman who has also served as a de facto big brother over the years. He has witnessed firsthand the omnipresent surveillance that continually follows him.
밳ou know, it뭩 a lot to deal with for a young kid,?McDowell admits. 밐e뭩 surprised me a lot the last couple of years, how he뭩 taken this in stride winning two major championships, world No. 1. He뭩 really taken it in stride unbelievably well. But something뭩 got to give. It뭩 just not that easy dealing with thoughts inside your head, trying to play for other people, trying to prove things to other people.?/P>
All of which leads to the original conundrum: Did McIlroy뭩 poor decision at the Honda happen because of that increased pressure? Or did the pressure increase because of his poor decision?
When in doubt with such golf-related questions, we can do a lot worse than listen to Jack Nicklaus. Another man who has served as a mentor of sorts to McIlroy, the 18-time major champion owns keen insight on what it takes to balance proper decisions both inside the ropes and out.
밐e shouldn뭪 have walked off the golf course; that was unfortunate,?Nicklaus maintains. 밒f he had thought about it for five minutes, he wouldn뭪 have done it. I think he뭩 a good kid, a sharp kid. I think he뭩 probably just so frustrated with what뭩 happening with the way he뭩 played the last month or so that it just got to him.?/P>
The Golden Bear contended that, 밯hen the Masters rolls around, Rory McIlroy is going to be playing just fine,?but knowledge about the game doesn뭪 always translate into successful soothsaying. And so we뭨e left guessing and predicting, constantly attempting to interpret how every machination could affect his impending prospects.
Meanwhile, the superstars ?from McIlroy to any number of household names ?try to refrain from paying attention to the attention. They live in cocoons, wrapped so tightly the outside world sometimes can뭪 get in. Other times, though, that pressure is too much to contain. It seeps in, eating at them. It can destroy confidence and hurt performance.
Is this what happened to McIlroy this past week? Did the pressure become too much that he simply had to crawl back into that cocoon? I don뭪 think so. I don뭪 believe that a player who has lived in the spotlight for this long suddenly gets exposed by the microscope.
What I do believe is that it뭩 at least now an issue. A boy wonder who rarely flailed in the face of so many eyeballs is now being questioned as to whether he can handle the spotlight. And the only thing that will make the conversation dissipate is a quick and easy return to the leaderboard.
밐e really just needs to get a couple of decent rounds under his belt and away he뭠l go,?McDowell thinks. 밄ut until then, there뭩 going to be a lot of inner talk and a lot of distraction in his head. It뭩 only a matter of time. But it뭩 a distraction. There뭩 no doubt about that. It뭩 not as easy as he뭩 made the game look these last couple of years.?/P>