Writing about Rory McIlroy is a strange ordeal. Truly. At this point, what has not been said or written about the man who raised the Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool nine years ago? What conjecture has not been uttered since 2014?
Everyone who covers or follows the game of golf, even to the vaguest extent, has one eye on the elephant in the room. It is about as obvious as an uncle whose had one too many at Thanksgiving. You want to look the other way, but you cannot. The gaudy sash has been draped around the Northern Irishman's shoulder for nearly a decade, and it reads as a politically incorrect statement hurled from across the table:
"Rory McIlroy has not won a major championship in nine years."
It is not a scarlet letter; that would be disrespectful to McIlroy's sustained success. Still, it burns deep. Its imprint is noticable.
"When I do finally win this next major, it's going to be really, really sweet," McIlroy said after his second-place finish at the U.S. Open. "I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship."
At the time of major No. 4, McIlroy's last, Jack Nicklaus projected 20-plus major championships in Rory's career. Back in 2014, Rory was still seen as unstoppable. Mere mortals do not win The Open, a World Golf Championship and then the PGA Championship over Rickie Fowler, who finished inside the top five in each major championship that year, and Phil Mickelson, who will go down as one of the greatest golfers of all time.
Three wins in three tournaments. Three massive career-defining victories over 216 holes. That is not normal.
It took 21 days for McIlroy to double his major championship count. If he is to somehow raise the Claret Jug at Hoylake for a second time, it would mean it took 3,269 days to go from four to five.
In 2014, the ALS ice bucket challenge was a viral trend, that horrible selfie of Ellen DeGeneres was making its rounds on the internet, T.J. Oshie was putting this hockey rich nation on his back in the Olympics and Brooks Koepka had zero major titles.
No one could envision the nine years since. Majorless in that span, McIlroy became the lone man to claim three FedEx Cup crowns. Following his win Sunday at the Scottish Open, McIlroy (and Dustin Johnson previously) joined Gary Player with 24 career PGA Tour victories. He has put together several admirable performances for the European Ryder Cup team. And he is still only 34 years old. Let us not forget McIlroy was 25 at the time of major No. 4; Mickelson was 33 when he won his first.
Rory has done well for himself, but he knows he is capable of more.
"It's nice to have the validation," McIlroy said at the Scottish Open. "The validation. it's great racking up top 5s, top 10s, but it's much nicer heading away with a trophy on Sunday afternoon. It's a great shot of confidence … having something fresh in my memory. If I hopefully find myself in a similar position next week where I've got a chance to win with nine holes to go, I can certainly draw on what I did here today -- that I can get myself in the mix again."
McIlroy need not heed the advice or perspective of anyone who will speak or write about how he should tackle The Open, what to do if he finds himself near the lead or how to handle his game if a chance arises to lift the Claret Jug and cement major No. 5 come Sunday.
Bugger off, you lot.
Forget all the talk that McIlroy needs to play more aggressive and more freely -- at best those are redundant, at worst unoriginal.
"His wedges are not good enough."
"He needs to choose his spots more wisely."
"The putter has to cooperate on Sunday."
"He cannot play to lose; he must play to win."
"Is it time to look for a new caddie?"
Stop.
There have been 20-plus major championships where we all have gone through this routine. McIlroy himself has nothing left to unload -- just look at his press conference schedule -- so let us follow suit and admit there is nothing more to say at this juncture. We may think we have the answers; he's certainly not asking us the questions.
"I'm trying to do it for me at the end of the day," McIlroy said following the disappointment of last year's 150th Open at St. Andrews in which he finished third. "Yes, it's great to get the support, but the happiest person in the world if I won that Claret Jug would have been me."
McIlroy will go down as one of the best ever should he remain on just four for the rest of eternity.
So, let's all take a step back and breathe.
Let him breathe. Let him walk his (bouncy) walk. Let him swing his swing.
Let Rory McIlroy be Rory McIlroy.
For one week, at least, fight off that urge to proclaim you know golf or course management better than Rory freakin' McIlroy.
