Rory McIlroy: The Stage is Yours
We welcomed Father’s Day on FOX Sports Radio by talking about myriad topics. We had some fun in the Twitter-verse with a discussion of the great father-son combos in sports and entertainment. We talked some NFL free agency, trade rumors and a little bit of fantasy baseball.
But the vast majority of our first hour was dedicated to the golfing world. We pondered the rise of young Rory McIlroy and discussed the state of golf in this post-Tiger era. With an eight-stroke, record-setting run through 54 holes coming into Sunday, skeptics feared another meltdown. Pundits waited to see signs of a crack in McIlroy as the round started. The cracks never came, as McIlroy finished the deal and posted a record -16 for the tournament, besting Tiger’s 2000 effort by four strokes.
Whatever he did to finish the deal, be it a George Constanza-inspired “opposites” approach, film review or push-ups, McIlroy came out and attacked the course and finished off the round (he shot a 69). McIlroy has led seven of the last eight rounds in the majors. That’s enough to raise an eyebrow. That’s enough to get that “Next” word falling out of the mouths of pundits, scribes and fans.
It’s enough to say “I can’t wait to see what he does next.” And it might be enough to get the casual golf fans back to the tube or to add a few folks on their Twitter or Facebook pages to spy happenings at each course.
It will be THE story as we begin a new week. We’ve had our fun with the horrific singing efforts of the champion Mavericks and Bruins. We’ve talked about the legal wranglings in the NFL far too much. Baseball’s really just now getting rolling, and the NBA Draft class of 2011 has been widely panned (though I’ll be blogging on Thursday!).
How can the PGA capitalize on this? They have the floor with “the next big thing” emerging in 2011. How do you package him? How do you get in there and sell, sell, sell?
Do you have to?
Is his play enough?
