Rory McIlroy - 4 Time Major Winner

I don't think it is too late.he just needs to make a drastic change,nothing to lose. Rory needs to play with freedom/ run like a free horse but he desperately also needs a gnarly and skilled jockey to stop him running into fences or off course for no reason when things arent going 100%. He needs both freedom and discipline. Someone who knows when to pull the reigns and prevent him from making or compounding errors and Someone to crack the whip to spur him on at the right time

I did a double today with the two Holywood lads…..knowing full well who would let me down. There’s a reason he’s not won a major in 10 years.

Which is a confidence issue. Having the right caddy can work wonders for players and he needs a change. I’ve said it since day 1 of Harry Diamond caddying for him.

A good caddy will talk to you about what what club you should hit. A good caddy will advise a player whose stronger from 140 yards than he is from 100 in to take a three wood instead of a driver etc.

I really think the caddy thing is flogging a dead horse tbh. I don't doubt that sometimes in certain situations a caddy can possibly make a difference, but really, if an elite player needs the guy carrying his clubs to consistently tell him what to do, he's got bigger problems. You'd swear Harry was some hacker who didn't know one end of the club from another - he is/was an elite amateur, and at that level they're basically pros anyway. If you look at the range of different caddies and their background out there, they're all different. Happening to be friends with your player doesn't make it a bad thing. Look at how Spieth's caddy got into golf. Jason Day's caddy when he was good was his coach, and he's now doing TV. Some players have their significant other on the bag. Different players want different things, look at what a De Chambeau would want from a caddy Vs a Rory. I dunno, people say we never hear or see Harry debating with him etc., but how many caddies do we hear or see debating with their player ? Very few I think in reality.

I mean, what's the caddy going to say to him? "...you're pretty sh1t with wedges, so take a 3 wood and leave yourself an 8 iron..." ? Any caddy doing that would be sacked before the round was over IMO. Similarly, even if he's hitting a wedge, what's he going to say ? "...don't hit it in the river..."?? FFS if a player needs to be told that, he may give it up anyway.

I know players change caddy for various reasons, usually along the lines of wanting a change or to hear a different voice, and that's fair enough, (plus the player can't really sack himself if he's playing badly and someone must be to blame !), but I really don't buy into the myth that there's some grizzled old grumpy Scottish veteran with a half cigarette and face full of stubble out there that's going to change Rory's game. Although I have to admit, I'd slightly like to see how Billy Foster would get on with him 😀.

Oh I'd agree totally about the potential pitfalls of employing a friend or relative (in anything really). I suppose Harrington and Flood are a textbook example of it working, but if I remember correctly Ronan got plenty of stick early on too.

I thought it was interesting (and maybe I'm reading too much into nothing), when he walked off the 18th to be greeted by Nicklaus, Jack looked like he wanted to say something meaningful to him, but looked sideways and realised the cameras were on him and just said something like ".....we need to sit down and have a chat..."

Maybe we're all wrong and he's simply falling into the age old trap of trying too hard and not letting it happen, or making perfect the enemy of good. For the life of me I can't see why he consistently sets up for fades when he clearly has trouble hitting them. I know DJ went to a fade etc, and lots of players now do (apparently because the modern drivers face is less suited to a draw), but he's a natural player and his natural shot is a draw.

Certainly means he put in a huge effort to defend the PGA Tour, at considerable personal cost to friendships long standing, only for the PGA Tour to make a commercial decision in their best interest at odds with what went before.

I wouldn’t say he looks a fool, I would say he has been made a fool of by his own tour. He must be seething.

I wonder if he suspected something like this was happening before the Masters.

Ya, just listened to Lawrence Donegan on The Last Word, negotiations have been ongoing between the 3 tours for over 2 months, he said it was unlikely McIlroy would not have heard something was going on given his position on the Board.

Mcilroy isn’t an employee.

Looking back now, maybe Jack's words were something to do with LIV.

We all have our opinions on Rory, I don't think it's the caddy either. Rory isn't made up for this strong caddy type imo, he just wouldn't go there.

For me, if I was to sit in my amateur psychologists chair and sum up Rory, it would be that he's a born entertainer, not a born winner (...when compared to the mentality of elite golfers today). He lives for the highs when he is showing everyone that's he's the best golfer out there, yet suffers the lows when he's clearly not the best golfer out there. And that can happen over the space of a hole sometimes.

Someone who has struggled to compete at the highest level (Majors) since the game was flooded with golfers just as talented as him, but with a lot more grit, mental reliance, hunger, focus, determination to win.

Rory's game was in sparkling shape in the spring leading up to the masters.

The masters and events off the course have clearly upset him and some of the old weaknesses in his game have reappeared a bit e.g driver control, accuracy of his wedge play and his short putting particularly.

I don't think it's anything to do with his caddy. I think he just needs to be able to focus more on his golf and let Rory the player thrive again. Hopefully, we'll see him do this over the next 18months. He has the ability, that's for sure imho.

The language and tone of the press conference are pretty telling to me. PIF own golf now and once the money comes, that's it really.

Seems like he's moved on albeit I'd imagine he's still gonna pissed off for a while. He'll have fewer distractions in pressers each week so maybe it's a bit of a release valve.

Still incredibly sad for golf and sport overall. Maybe there'll be an uptick in performance but tbf he is the FedEx champion. Not like he's scraping a tour card.

‘McIlroy kept quiet until Grayson Murray, the world No 227, shouted for Monahan to resign, saying “we don’t trust you, Jay – you lied to our face”. McIlroy yelled back “just play better, Grayson”, but in a mutinous atmosphere the world No 3’s defence of Monahan apparently did not achieve unanimous approval.

‘Golf Channel first reported the exchange and another source has confirmed to Telegraph Sport that Murray responded by telling McIlroy to “f--- off”.’