Courtside
Anthony L. Cuaycong
Oddsmakers have pegged Rory McIlroy as a co-favorite heading into the PGA Championship, and not just because he just placed a solid fourth at the British Open. His final-round flurry does provide him with much-needed momentum at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational this weekend; more importantly, it stopped a swoon that had him missing the cut in three of his last four starts. It also helps that he has had notable success at both Firestone and Quail Hollow. The latter, in particular, has served as the venue for two victories and four other Top 10 finishes.
Considering the positive prognoses, not a few quarters have seen fit to question the timing of McIlroy’s decision to part ways with caddie J.P. Fitzgerald, who was on his bag for nine years, and who had been his partner through four major titles and double-digit wins on both the US PGA and the European Tours. Evidently, he saw the leaves falling from the trees and not the relative lushness of the forest. And, in this regard, the wrong club selection that led to a critical double bogey on the 10th hole of his third round at the British Open proved to be the proverbial last straw.
Yesterday, McIlroy was candid about his split with Fitzgerald. “In order to preserve a personal relationship, I had to sacrifice a professional one,” he said. “I was getting very hard on him on the golf course, and I didn’t want to treat someone I [value] like that.” And so he will be negotiating Firestone and Quail Hollow with childhood friend Harry Diamond, ditching familiarity for freshness and hoping that the setup will bear fruit enough for them to consider a more permanent arrangement. “We’ll see how the next two weeks go, but I’m not ruling anything out.”
In any case, the caddie change doesn’t seem to have dampened pundits’ view on McIlroy’s capacity to prevail, hence his preeminent pre-tournament standing. To his credit, he has put in the work required to make up for Fitzgerald’s absence, surveying the landscape and doing the yardages himself at Firestone. And he’ll be doing the same at Quail Hollow, which redesigned five holes and changed the composition of the grass on the greens and rough in an effort to present the kind of challenge typical of major stops.
Certainly, McIlroy has his work cut out for him. That said, he won’t be lacking in motivation. At stake is the distinction of being the youngest player in the history of the sport to claim a career Grand Slam, which he can deny World Number Two Jordan Spieth at the PGA Championship, and which he can then boast of with a triumph at the 2018 Masters. He’s ready and willing, but is he able? Only time will tell.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Basic Energy Corp.
