Rory McIlroy is STILL a Professional Golfer

Contrary to soon-to-be-popular belief that switching equipment is the death knell for a young and promising (or an old and washed-up) professional golfer, Rory McIlroy is still a professional golfer. As I type these words, he is on hole #16 at Abu Dhabi National, six over par and primed to miss the cut at his first event with his new clubs. I think that I’d like to visit Abu Dhabi one day. It seems like my kind of town. It seems like Rory’s kind of town. He has had success there in the past.

All things are never the same, no matter how frequent the repetition. Rory was fated to have an off tournament one year. That it came when he made the monumental move to a new and touted equipment company makes it fodder for conspiracy theorists. It ain’t so.

Rory eclipsed young Rory in 2012. He won a second major title as he won his first~by a lot of strokes over a good golf course against a strong field. He met intellectual and emotional pressures that he had yet to face, those of a transcendent golfing figure. By way of comparison, Rory’s highly-public girlfriend has reached the semifinal round of three major tennis championships, winning none of those matches. She competes against one opponent at a time. Rory could be caught at any moment by a player three, four or five groups distant. McIlroy has reached an unfamiliar level, with which he is quite familiar, it seems. Oh, he also shot a few commercials (taking up more time.)

Curly Mac will return to smile the swoosh smile that endeared him to us. He will bash his red driver up the fairway and march to victory time and again as his career advances. He will do so with new heads, shafts, grips and balls over and over. He has ceased being the young apprentice and will now be second-guessed by fans, chops, journalists and others.

If you want a new Rory, check out his stable mate, Thorbjørn Olesen. Now THERE’S a guy with a spontaneous public relations strategy.