Rory McIlroy - 4 Time Major Winner

I'd tend to think that for a sport to be in the Olympics, the Olympic title should be the biggest thing you can win in that sport. Pro golf and tennis have their majors and the gold medal will never IMO be the equal of a major. Actually I'd have golf in if it was for the amateurs. Might be nice to hear some of the prospects say they're not turning pro til after they play in the Olympics.

Apologies, its not really Rory related !!

Pre-LIV, the Players Championship had the strongest field in golf. It always had the top players in the world and usually around 80+ of the top 100 and 40+ of the top 50, if not higher. Everyone who was eligible, typically played (injuries aside). That didn't make it a major.

There are 4 majors in mens golf.

I think the Players v the Olympics is a very interesting one. I have no idea what someone at Rorys level would pick assuming they had not won either prior (i.e. not Rory).

It seems to me that Rory has come full 180 on the Olympics. After he skipped Rio (which I wouldnt have blamed him for tbh, even though the Zica excuse was obviously rubbish), he was all in in Tokyo, even saying afterwards hed never fought so hard in a tournament to finish 3rd. Not winning a medal in Paris hurt him as well even though he hid it better than he did the US Open loss.

McIlroy skipped the Players in 2011 with his then manager exclaiming that he didnt like the course. He got a fair bit of a backlash for that, especially from the American media, and has played it ever since, probably grudgingly Id wager. Now that hes won it, Id say he could probably take or leave it, but as the PGA Tour's golden boy, he'll obv feel compelled to participate.

Lee Westwood skipped the even also in 2011. He was world number 1 at the time. He skipped it again more recently, so he could go to Cheltenham if I recall.

All in all, Id say the event is not as popular with the players as the PGAT would have us believe. The Olympics seems to be growing in popularity, even with the Americans on the back of Xander and scottie's exploits the last 2 editions.

It would be a pointless question to Rory ..because he would answer one way..have cornflakes one morning next week and change his mind..

There was the zika virus concern or excuse depending on your viewpoint. It was also a brand new purpose-built course and Brazil has no major golfing tradition to speak of. It wasn't a particularly attractive proposition. Hence a load of top guys skipping it.

However, if it was only appearing in LA for the first time it'd be much more attractive to the pros. Given that it's the Riviera, US fans, pros living/playing there etc etc.

The snapping shaft was just stupid rather than petulant. He bent down to grab the tee and leant on the driver. But that said, you can see the frustration. He came into this year having a new approach that looked like it would pay off, but in the end just more of the same. Flashes of brilliance destroyed by awful mistakes.

I hope he takes a few months off to reset. He needs it.

I think it's hard for anyone in any walk of life who's reached the highest level and dropped off from it. He's clearly at a plateau with such inconsistency (relative to expected potential performance) and unsure of what to do to break through at this point.

Anyone 30s or older who's playing GAA/Football etc will recognise a point where did hit a wall. No matter what you do, you just keep banging at that wall and you just won't get better, faster, stronger etc.

Yet even with that inconsistency and plateau, he's still in the most elite group of golfers year after year albeit without that major. Multiple wins each year, Fedex/DP order of merit, Ryder Cup, high major finishes. There's no one left on tour that has sustained a similar length of top-level performance. In itself, this is remarkable and brings back to the frustration he's feeling.

For all of those things, the money etc he wouldn't give a fiddlers if he could stick another major trophy on the mantlepiece.

Where is that stat from? Strange one as there were less than 30 in the field. But yeah, sinking putts has always been a problem.