Rory McIlroy eagled the Old Course’s 18th in practice for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and got a lovely bounce on 14 close to the pin – and thought ‘how much would I have liked those on Sunday back in July’.
But seriously, he has no regrets about The 150th Open Championship loss now, and he still treasures all the memories he has at St Andrews – especially those with his wider family.
This week again he will play the Dunhill with his Dad Gerry, and he would far rather win the Dunhill’s team event for him rather than the individual title for himself.
“There are lots of great memories here for me, dad and for my family,” he said. “I feel like it’s where my professional career really began and really took off.
“I got my European Tour card 15 years ago here at this golf course, and you know, it’s been a pretty great journey since.”
He’s able to use that as perspective in how far he’s come, and what St Andrews and July really means in the whole narrative of his career.
‘This course and what it means will stand the test of time’
An eagle at 18 for Rory Mcilroy at St Andrews 😍👀the money we would’ve all paid for this at the 72nd hole a few months ago🤣😭 pic.twitter.com/3hOlyjUzLW
— RORY FANS (@rory_fans) September 28, 2022
“I’ll always have a deep appreciation for St Andrews and what it means to our game,” he said. “I think that’s more important than me trying to win an Open Championship here.
“This course and what it means will stand the test of time. I’m in the game for a finite time and one day I’ll move on and leave the game to the younger generation. Then they will try and do the same things that I’ve been trying to do the last 20 years.
“And when I look back over the 15 years since I won my card here, it’s been an amazing life, an amazing career, providing you with amazing things, obviously.
“But you still have to remember where you came from. I have to pinch myself sometimes and I have to give myself that little perspective.
“Even just being in that position to have a chance to win on 18 at St Andrews, it’s just stuff that you dream about as a kid.
“I get to live out my childhood dreams and not everybody can say that. That’s an unbelievable position to be in.”
‘The 150th Open was way bigger than this crap we’ve talked about all year’
🗣 It's all about finishing the season off well"
Rory McIlroy bids to win the FedEx Cup Playoffs for the third time and is feeling confident after reflecting on his third place finish at The Open 👇 pic.twitter.com/z8PT0YkIdE
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) August 11, 2022
This week is welcome light relief for McIlroy after what has been an eventful and sometimes fraught year. It’s also a gentle reminder that golf’s about a lot more than the elite.
“The professional game is such a small part of the game of golf,” he said. “It’s so much bigger than all of us and sometimes people miss that.
“I thought The 150th Open Championship was really a feel-good moment for the year. It was way bigger than all this crap we’ve talked about all year.
“It was St Andrews and tradition and where the game was created and where it was built. That’s golf at the end of the day.
“We’re all playing the same game. Sometimes our vision of what that game should be is a little bit different but it’s a wonderful game and it’s a game that can be played for life.”
“My two-year-old daughter can swing a club and hit a ball with my Dad. Grandparents can play with grandkids, different generations can sort of all be interested in something together.
“That’s one of the most special things about our game that has been lost in all this rhetoric the last few weeks.”
‘I don’t want a fractured game, I never have’
The DJ/Cam Smith “they should get OWGR points!” take is very easy (albeit dumb) to make. Equally easy is the fact that James Piot plays on the same tour. He’s never made a professional cut. He’s broken 70 once as a pro and was arbitrarily given a contract to play in this league.
— D.J. Piehowski (@DJPie) September 20, 2022
That rhetoric seems to never stop, and as he’s done all season, McIlroy didn’t duck questions on LIV Golf.
“I’ve always said I think there is a time and a place where everyone that’s involved here should sit down and try to work together,” he said. It’s very hard for that to happen right now when there’s these lawsuits going on.
“I think there’s a natural timeline here to let temperatures just sort of settle down a little bit. People can maybe go into mediation with cooler heads and not be so emotional about it all
“I don’t want a fractured game. I never have. The game of golf is ripping itself apart right now and that’s no good for anyone.
It’s no good for the guys on either side. There is a time and a place for (meidation). I just think right now, with where everything is, it’s probably not the right time.
But saying that, I don’t think we can let it go too much longer. So I’m all for everyone sitting around the table and trying to figure something out for sure.”