So I’m sat here now with a bottle of water by my side and my headphones in, lights down dim and feeling a bit worse for wear. Unfortunately I seem once again to have succumed to a throat infection (the bane of my life these days!) I have spent the majority of the day fixated on my screen reading and watching anything and everything I can find to do with golf. The topic of the day appears to be about Rory walking off after only 8 holes today at the Honda Classic, the event which he won a year ago to propel him into the world number one spot. He was on course to shoot 42 for his front 9 holes and decided enough was enough, picked up his ball from just short of the bunker and walked off. He barely had time to shake the hands of his playing partners before darting off to the car muttering about how he wasn’t in the right place mentally. However only a short time after this he released the information that he walked off due to bad toothache, I don’t think I’m the only one who is doubtful as to how much influence his teeth actually had in his decision to withdraw himself from the tournament. It only happened a few hours ago and already the internet is plastered with outrageous statements about the 23 year old ….
It has really brought to light the difficulty of the place that I am emulating to be. The problems faced by golfers these days seem to be less and less related to their abilities to get that little white ball into a hole, there seems to be much more pressure from the outside world nowadays. What with the admiration of the public along with a reported $250 million Nike deal Rory is having the pressure piled on him massively. He has just started his 2013 season a bit rusty (as have many big names in the game) and after changing all 14 clubs in his bag along with the ball, we could be forgiven for thinking he was still in the stages of getting his game back to full operating temperature. If we were just a club golfer playing in our monthly medals nobody would bat an eyelid, in fact a majority of others would probably be in the same boat. So is it fair to judge Rory on a different scale to anybody else? after all he is still human. Being an aspiring professional golfer I am clearly trying to get myself into the position Rory has got himself into, as world number one and in the major winners circle. I now find myself thinking that not only do I need to work on my own golfing ability, but also that I am going to need to develop a thick skin. Although I will try to derive comfort from the fact that nobody will ever expect more from me than I can expect from myself. I am just going to have to reside to always doing my best and taking any critique in my stride and not let it derive from my focus on what I know I can achieve with my own game. So here’s to Rory and hoping he can take this in his stride and get back to playing the golf we all know he has inside him!
