HUMBLE PIE

Every now and then everyone has to cut themselves a big slice of humble pie. This weekend that person was Rory McIlroy, the young, Irish phenom on the PGA tour. Holding a slim lead with with 9 holes to play, a bad tee shot on 10 sent him in a downward spiral to a round of 80 and finishing ten strokes off the eventual winner, Charl Schwartzel. Normally, I would have no criticism for someone so young in such a precarious position -- a one stroke lead, on the biggest stage of your sport, with some of the best players in your sport chasing you down. McIlroy brought some of it on himself though with disparaging comments made about Tiger Woods and his actions over the last year and a half. In position to walk the walk, he crumbled with Tiger pressuring him to play mistake free, and in some ways boosted Tiger's golf image and just how remarkable he was at the same age. (In 1997, at nearly the same age, Tiger steamrolled the competition on the way to his frist green jacket.) There's a saying that every great poker player goes broke once before they make money, so in the same way McIlroy must taste defeat before visiting his local tailor to get his jacket sleeves hemmed. He is too young, and too talented to no be in position for golf's ultimate prize again. Next time, hopefully, he remembers his round yesterday and uses it to finish what he started.

On a separate note, if Tiger Woods had finished off a remarkable rally on the back nine I was prepared to write that while he may not fully be back, he is better. For all of his accomplishments in golf, he has never once come back in the final day of play to win a major. Yesterday was arguably the closest he has been. While everything he has gone through publicly and privately in the last 18 months has broken him down in every sense of the term, I feel like once he turns that corner his mental toughness will be stronger than ever. That coupled with his talent and dedication to golf may may make him better than before, if possible. Last year Woods waded in a sea of emotion to a fourth place finish. This year he took it. As he reinvents himself on and off the course, I expect we will see more of that.