Rory McIlroy enters this week’s British Open in the midst of a seriously disappointing 2013 season for any top golfer, let alone one who was the player of the year and a dual money-title winner in 2012. But Tiger Woods and Graeme McDowell -- two competitors who know the two-time major champion rather well -- believe McIlroy will bounce back from his half-year slump and regain the winning form with which he dominated the golf world last year -- perhaps as soon as Sunday.
British Open 2013: Tiger Woods and Graeme McDowell defend Rory McIlroy
Tiger remembers when -- not all that long ago -- he was the subject of the type of criticism and questions that now dog his young pal, Rory McIlroy.
Drew Hallowell
“This time 12 months ago, Rory McIlroy’s form wasn’t particularly good either and he proceeded to have an incredible last six months of the season,” McDowell said on Tuesday to media members gathered at Muirfield in Scotland for the Open Championship.
For sure, McIlroy turned on the after-burners following a lackluster T60 finish in last year’s British Open that succeeded three missed cuts in four events, including the U.S. Open. He posted three PGA Tour wins (including his second major, the PGA Championship) in addition to a top-10 and a top-25 to close out his award-winning season.
In 2012 as well, McIlroy got off to a sizzling start, with four top-3 finishes in five appearances (including a win in his second tourney, the Honda Classic), which stands in stark contrast to his performances this year.
After a massive and very public equipment change to kick off the season, the golfer G-Mac claimed, during his long-time friend’s record-breaking 2011 U.S. Open romp, was “the next Tiger Woods,” is winless for 2013. During this year’s campaign, McIlroy has tallied four top-10s (including a T8 at the no-cut Cadillac Championship), a controversial withdrawal from the Honda, and a frustrating and golf club-mangling T41 turn at last month’s U.S. Open during which he admitted he was “lost.”
The criticism Woods has experienced for tweaking his swing under the tutelage of several instructors seemed to him similar to what pundits have tossed at his young Nike stablemate. The winner of 14 major titles was confident that McIlroy would work through his struggles.
“I won a major championship my first one out as a professional [in 1997] and then I proceeded to alter my swing with Butch [Harmon] and it took me a better part of...two years before it really clicked in and I was getting questioned quite a bit,” Woods recalled for reporters on Tuesday. ”‘Why would you change something...that won the Masters by 12?’
“I’ve gone through that process,” Woods said. “He’s going through that right now, he’s making some alterations, and only he knows it’s for the betterment of his game.
“People obviously speculate and analyze and hypothesize about what he should and shouldn’t do,” added Woods, “but deep down, he knows what he’s doing.”
McDowell went even further in backing McIlroy. Indeed, he cautioned observers not to count his Northern Irish countryman and Ryder Cup teammate out of this week’s proceedings.
“I don’t think anyone in this room would be shocked if he won this week and would continue to have a phenomenal rest of the year,” said the 2010 U.S. Open winner.
“Form is temporary and class is permanent,” McDowell added, “and [Rory’s] a class player and I expect to see him back very soon.”
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