Storm Wins On Patrick Reed Lifeline; Rory To Have MRI

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The European Tour's 2017 kicked off in wild fashion with 38-year-old Graeme Storm edging Rory McIlroy in a three-hole playoff.

As James Corrigan writes for the Telegraph, Storm thought he'd lost his card in October after a final hole bogey and by just €100, only to receive a lifeline from Patrick Reed. Now Storm's holding the SA Open trophy and all of the perks that come with winning.

But then the American Patrick Reed failed to fulfill the minimum number of events when skipping the Final Series and so Storm was handed a reprieve. And there he was, at the Glendower Country Club near Johannesburg, captilasing on his second chance in one of the most gutsy scenarios imaginable.

To win just the second title of his career – following up his French Open a decade later - and in the process ensure he retains his Tour playing privileges for at least two years was the stuff of fantasy. But to do so when going head-to-head with McIlroy, the world No 2 and winner of four majors, was, in his words, “totally unbelievable”.

The news was tempered by Rory McIlroy's upper back issues. With a chance to retake the World No. 1 spot in Abu Dhabi this week, he's headed for an MRI machine in Dubai.

“It was manageable this week with tape and a few pill, but it’s not 100 per cent.

"Part of me really wants to make this week because there is so much to play for with world No 1 on the line. But at the same time there is so much to play for over the whole season and I don’t want to jeopardise long-term goals for short-term gain. Hopefully, I’ll be good to go.”

Despite the pain, McIlroy uncorked some stunning tee shots, including a 392-yarder to open the week. The European Tour compiled this collection of tee balls of McIlroy and his new Epic driver:

 

 

All of the three-hole playoff shots in under five minutes, courtesy of the European Tour:

 

 

Rory: "I hate that term 'growing the game'...golf was here long before we were, and it's going to be here long after we're gone."

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Part 1 of Rory McIlroy's open and engaging chat with the Independent On Sunday's Paul Kimmage is worth a read, and while his comments about the Olympics got most of the attention, the grow-the-game views and his comments on Tiger stood out.

On the Olympics, he explains himself well and, in hindsight, probably would not have had to wheel out Zika if he'd just said what he tells Kimmage. Then again, his grow the game remarks might have gotten him a lecture from Mssrs Dawson and Finchem.

RM: Well, I'd had nothing but questions about the Olympics - 'the Olympics, the Olympics, the Olympics' - and it was just one question too far. I'd said what I needed to say. I'd got myself out of it, and it comes up again. And I could feel it. I could just feel myself go 'Poom!' and I thought: 'I'm going to let them have it.'

PK: (Laughs)

RM: Okay, I went a bit far. But I hate that term 'growing the game'. Do you ever hear that in other sports? In tennis? Football? 'Let's grow the game'. I mean, golf was here long before we were, and it's going to be here long after we're gone. So I don't get that, but I probably went a bit overboard.

PK: They were goading you.

RM: Yeah, but maybe I shouldn't have reacted in the way that I did. But Olympic golf to me doesn't mean that much - it really doesn't. I don't get excited about it. And people can disagree, and have a different opinion, and that's totally fine. Each to their own.

PK: There was a lot of blow-back for you afterwards. When you were asked about it after the opening round you said: "I've spent seven years trying to please everyone and I figured out that I really can't do that, so I may as well be true to myself."

RM: Yeah, I mean when it was announced (that golf was to be an Olympic sport) in 2009 or whatever, all of a sudden it put me in a position where I had to question who I am. Who am I? Where am I from? Where do my loyalties lie? Who am I going to play for? Who do I not want to piss off the most? I started to resent it. And I do. I resent the Olympic Games because of the position it put me in - that's my feeling towards it - and whether that's right or wrong, it's how I feel.

Ok, so we won't pencil you in for Tokyo 2020.

As for the tired "grow the game" phrase, it's wonderful to see a player single it out.

May I propose "sustain the game," which would allow McIlroy and others not look hypocritical when working to inspire kids to take up the game, something he clearly enjoys. Because we know the "grow" is merely a product of fear that the numbers have, gasp, flatlined.

On Tiger:

RM: I’m drawn to him, yeah. He’s an intriguing character because you could spend two hours in his company and see four different sides to him. When he’s comfortable and he trusts you — and his trust (sensitivity) is way (higher) than mine — he’s great. He’s thoughtful. He’s smart. He reads. He can’t sleep so that’s all he does — he reads stuff and educates himself on everything. But he struggles to sleep, which I think is an effect of overtraining, so I tell him to calm down sometimes. He’d be texting me at four o’clock in the morning: ‘Up lifting. What are you doing?’

PK: Really?

RM: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's never dull!

Rory On Tiger: "He looked happy"

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Brian Keogh reports on the remarks of Rory McIlroy speaking at Monday's Excellence in Sport Awards in support of the Irish Youth Foundation in Dublin.

Say what you want about Tiger--and many have--but this comment from McIlroy is the most important big picture observation from last week's Hero World Challenge.

“Anytime we saw him on a golf course in the last couple of years he had the furrowed brow and he has been so concentrated.

“But  he looked happy so obviously that tells you he has been away and he has come back out happy and he is in a better place.”

Keogh's item also explores the prospects of which players might play in the Irish Open two weeks prior to The Open.

Kenyon! More On Team Europe's Putting Guru

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Tim Rosaforte fills out a few details about the mysterious putting coach Phil Kenyon, recently sought out by Rory McIlroy and coach to several top players. Kenyon keeps a low profile and doesn't so much self promotion, but as Rosaforte notes, he's had a hand in helping seven members of the European Ryder Cup team.

Rosaforte writes:

Kenyon has a master’s degree in Sports Science, and his experience playing on the mini-tours in Europe gives him a good perspective on how players think. Says McIlroy: “He was more, you figure it out yourself a little bit, but this is what you need to do; this is where you need the putter to be at certain points in your stroke, and then just figure out a way to do it.”

True to form, Kenyon didn’t want to be quoted directly on his work with McIlroy, reciting only the Aristotle proverb, “One swallow does not a summer make.”

Duly noted!

Rio 2016: Spieth, McIlroy Fumble The Torch

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It's a day that won't be looked on with much affection by those who admire the skill, passion and leadership roles Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy have been carrying for golf.

Inheriting and running with the torch handed to them in recent years--and enjoying the perks that come with the gig--these popular and impressive athletes have inspired young people. They've reminded the world that golf is a sport played by passionate figures.  And they have done their part when called upon to spread the gospel of golf to new lands. But after passing on the 2016 Rio games for reasons that seem less than their normally honest feelings, they've fumbled the torch each seemed so proud to have taken from golf's revered champions of the past.

Golf in the Olympics, while flawed due to the format and crowded schedule, is still one week out of their lives that could have cemented them as ambassadors, world-class sportsman willing to eat Olympic Village food for a week, and all around gents who love golf so much they'll show up in Rio for four whole days of potentially exciting golf.

However, the lads have stumbled in passing on Rio for an undisclosed health reason (Spieth), and altogether dismissing Olympic golf in a petty manner (McIlroy).

Spieth, who had called this a fifth major, signed with Olympic presenting sponsor Coca Cola to be part of its campaign, and who genuinely seems determined to become a sporting legend, could never quite disclose the reason he waffled right up to the inopportune moment of announcing his decision at a major championship (Alex Myers with Spieth's comments here.)

More disconcerting was the assertion that this was the hardest decision of his life, paramount to a college choice. While many around the world would envy someone who has never faced a decision more difficult than deciding to play in the first Olympic golf competition in 104 years or whether to go to UT or USC, the gravity suggests Spieth isn't quite prepared for the modern limelight that is so harsh. Trying to crack a joke about carrying the torch didn't help.

But at least Spieth seems to have genuinely agonized over this. McIlroy, however, went a disappointing path in belittling the competition by suggesting it is not one that matters. While John Huggan rightly notes the brutal honesty of McIlroy is, in part, why he is beloved and paid handsomely to be a global brand ambassador, McIlroy didn't have to put Olympic golf down because he's decided not to go.

The key quote from James Corrigan's Telegraph story:

“But, look, I get where different people come from and different people have different opinions. But I'm very happy with the decision that I've made and I have no regrets about it. I'll probably watch the Olympics, but I'm not sure golf will be one of the events I watch.”

When pressed which events these would be, he replied: “Probably the events like track and field, swimming, diving, the stuff that matters.”

As Jason Sobel wrote of the surreal at ESPN.com:

Unlike Spieth's delicate attempt to convey golf's relevance in the Olympics without his participation, McIlroy stuck a knife in the back of the event and twisted it. Hard.

Ultimately golf is an individual sport played successfully by those who think very hard about themselves, their goals and their needs. Spieth and McIlroy confirmed they are no different than many past champions in putting their needs first. The difference, however, is that while past champions were often selfish and inconsistent at times, they were never handed a torch resembling this Olympic opportunity.