Ernie Els regrets not making more of an effort to talk Rory McIlroy out of his decision to walk out at the Honda Classic.
But as the Big Easy knows from bitter personal experience, 23-year-olds regularly regret decisions they make in the heat of the moment, or in McIlroy case, when they are “seeing red”.
“Listen, I was also 22, 23; I’m 43 now,” Els said. “I look back, I did a lot of silly things and what he’s done is nothing compared to what I did. Speak to my parents.”
McIlroy’s management company was accused of dropping the ball last Friday when it issued a statement blaming a toothache for his decision to walk away when only an hour earlier he had made no mention of his wisdom teeth and told reporters, “I’m just not in a great place mentally”.
Less than 48 hours later, efforts were made to defuse today's face to face with the media ahead of the WGC-Cadillac Championship by conceding an interview to Sports Illustrated's on-line publication Golf.com, admitting that walking off at the Honda Classic "was not the right thing to do".
It was a canny move designed to take the sting out of today’s media conference at Doral but it now appears the beleaguered world number one will have more questions to answer over a Twitter exchange with pop star Ronan Keating yesterday and the meaning of the hashtag #FTB.
Keating has the words “F*** the begrudgers” tattooed on the inside of his wrist and regularly uses the #FTB hashtag in his tweets.
Now McIlroy has joined the club prompting some critics to speculate he is lashing out at the negative coverage he has received worldwide for letting his poor golf get the better of him at PGA National last Friday morning, when he walked in after dropping seven shots in eight holes and did not bother to complete his ninth.
McIlroy tweeted: “For every complex problem, there is a simple solution. #FTB,” and received a response from Keating which read, “loving the hash tag bro. #FTB”. McIlroy then replied “@shanelowrygolf told me you would like it, ;) hope you are well.”
Later tweeted
McIlroy later tweeted a Nike motivational image bearing the words: “Success isn’t given. It’s earned. On the track, on the field, in the gym. With blood, sweat and the occasional tear.” He then added the hashtag #FTB.
Perhaps it means Feel The Burn, but as Els knows, being number one brings pressures the world number 50 never has to worry about.
“When it comes to being where he’s at, you’ve got to maybe think a little bit more than two minutes,” Els said of McIlroy’s hasty decision to walk out. “You know, in a couple of years’ time, he won’t even think about this or talk about this.”
McIlroy spoke to Golf.comon Sunday night, explaining: "It was a reactive decision. What I should have done is take my drop, chip it on, try to make a five and play my hardest on the back nine, even if I shot 85.
“What I did was not good for the tournament, not good for the kids and the fans who were out there watching me – it was not the right thing to do.”
According to the interview, McIlroy admits the wisdom tooth story was just an excuse though his bottom right impacted wisdom tooth, which is being treated by his childhood dentist in Belfast, was causing him pain and will be extracted soon.
However, McIlroy also revealed it was his faulty swing more than the multi-million dollar move to Nike that was the true cause of his meltdown.
“The driver and the ball took some time to get used to, but I had weeks at Nike before the start of the year, and I feel comfortable with all the equipment,” he said.
“The problem is, I’m bringing the club too upright on the backswing then dropping it in too much on the downswing.”
Practising hard
Els revealed he saw McIlroy “practising his tail off” at the Bear’s Club at the weekend and ran into him again during a member-guest invitational at exclusive Seminole on Monday.
But Els admitted he regretted not trying to talk McIlroy out of his walk-out when he shook his hand and abandoned the South African and playing partner Mark Wilson on the 18th fairway at PGA National last Friday.
“I must say, when I shook his hand on 18, I wanted to say something to him, but I didn’t, and I kind of regret that,” Els said. “But you know, it was obviously a heat of the moment thing. He is who he is. You’ve got to respect what the individual at that moment is like, and he wanted to get off.
“And we obviously heard that his wisdom tooth was bothering him, and if that was the reason, that was that. I would have been out of my depth at that stage to say something to him if something was bothering him. So I didn’t, but I thought I should have.”
Brain box Harrington making waves
Golf might be played on the six-inch course between your ears but Pádraig Harrington took things a step further yesterday by monitoring his brainwaves in practice.
The Dubliner, who is often accused of thinking too much when he plays, leaves no stone unturned in his search for perfection and monitoring which side of his brain he was using over his shots at the Blue Monster certainly falls into a whole new category.
Wearing a specially designed baseball cap fitted with electronic sensors that beamed information to an iPad, the three-time Major winner could work out which side of his brain was more active over a shot – the analytical left side or the more instinctive right side.
His mental coach Bob Rotella said: "We definitely want him in the right brain but likes to get over in that analytical side. You don't want him using that other side, not when he's playing."
Harrington admits he tends to think too much on the course, confessing in South Africa in January: "In a reactionary sport, obviously you're getting your right brain involved. If you get your left brain involved, you're going to be slower, so that's the last thing you want in a reaction sport."
Golf is not a reactionary sport like football, which is why Harrington has always struggled with his focus.
Harrington wore glasses during his nine-hole practice session and revealed he will wear them in competition for the first time this week as they help him to read greens.
BRIAN KEOGH
