HAVEN,
Wis. — Poor Rory McIlroy. He misses two tournaments that he won last
year, including the British Open, and people are talking about his No. 1
reign in the past tense. It is as if McIlroy is the established star
being upstaged by the ingénue in a Theater on the Greens production
titled “All About Spieth.”
Before
McIlroy tore ligaments in his left ankle on July 4 while playing soccer
with friends, his dominance was drawing comparisons to that of LeBron
James. Six weeks away from the stage, and McIlroy has turned into Jets
quarterback Geno Smith, with people openly wondering whether his injury
will spell the end of his era.
“We
live in such a world that everything’s so reactionary and everything
happens so quickly,” McIlroy said Wednesday, adding, “Eras last about
six months these days instead of 20 years.”
McIlroy’s
victories in the last two majors of 2014 made him the game’s headliner.
But then Jordan Spieth won the first two majors of 2015 and finished
one stroke out of a playoff in the third as McIlroy watched from his
couch with his left foot elevated.
McIlroy, 26, is back this week to defend his title at the P.G.A. Championship.
But will Spieth, 22, steal his spotlight? Spieth can supplant McIlroy
as the world No. 1 with a victory or with a top-three finish combined
with a missed cut by McIlroy.
They
are grouped together with Zach Johnson for the first two rounds, adding
import to intrigue. McIlroy and Spieth have played in the same group
eight times, all in the first two days of an event. In those rounds,
McIlroy has averaged 70.4 strokes to Spieth’s 72.6.
“I
knew I wasn’t going to have a low-key return to the game, and this
definitely isn’t,” said McIlroy, who won three times worldwide between
January and May.
He
added: “I expect to play well. I don’t see any reason why I can’t bring
the sort of form that I’ve shown in practice rounds and on the range to
the tee on Thursday afternoon.”
Spieth,
who has missed the cut in two previous P.G.A. Championship starts, said
he was excited to have McIlroy in the field but played down their
grouping.
“I
think he and I just want to go out there and try to win the
tournament,” Spieth said. “I mean, we have to beat each other in order
to do that, along with 155 other guys.”
One
season can bleed into another in golf. McIlroy barely had time to savor
his success in 2014 before starting from scratch in 2015. The injury
acted as a kind of tourniquet. It stopped the hemorrhaging of
perspective that can occur when your caldron of competition is a
fishbowl.
“When
you’re playing week in, week out, and you’re thinking about winning
these tournaments, you get so wrapped up in what you’re doing and your
own little life and your own little bubble, sometimes you forget there’s
a bigger, wider world out there,” McIlroy said. “No matter whether you
win a golf tournament or not, people are going to get up on Monday
morning and go to work and do their daily things, and honestly, not a
lot of people care.”
McIlroy
added: “It just gave me a big sense of perspective that even though it
does mean so much to me and so much to a few other people, in the big
scheme of things it’s not life or death. And that’s something that I can
bring in with me this week, knowing that, O.K., it’s a big deal, but no
matter what happens this week, only a very small percentage of the
population really cares.”
As
rivals, McIlroy and Spieth will inexorably fall a few inflammable
comments short of an explosion. They both have friendly dispositions
that make them popular among their peers.
They crave normalcy, which is
why McIlroy said he would continue playing pickup soccer with his
friends and why Spieth, in reaction to his newfound celebrity, chooses a
corner booth at a restaurant over not dining out at all.
Each
is a fierce competitor, but neither acts as if another’s success is his
failure. Spieth marveled on Wednesday at McIlroy’s return.
“What an incredible rehab that was to get back so soon,” said Spieth, who described McIlroy as “an inspiring player.”
McIlroy
marveled at Spieth’s season, which has included eight top-three
finishes in his last 20 starts. “Whenever you see someone put together a
season like this, of course, you become motivated,” said McIlroy, who
praised Spieth’s poise when he had the calendar Grand Slam in play.
“That’s
something to really, for him, to be proud of, especially how he handled
everything at St. Andrews going into all the Grand Slam talk and
everything,” McIlroy said. “He handled it so well. I think even though
I’m not that much older, I think if I was — he was 21 at that point — I
probably wouldn’t have handled it quite as well as he did.”
Few
top-ranked athletes whose dominions are under attack would have been as
gracious as McIlroy when asked, as he was during a news conference,
“From your perspective, solely, who is the best player in the world?”
McIlroy
said: “If you were to go by this year, you would have to say Jordan. I
would say if you go over the last two years, I would say it’s probably a
tossup between Jordan and myself.”
When pressed for a more equivocal answer, McIlroy squirmed in his seat and said, “I’ll tell you at the end of the week.”
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