Gary Player throws his weight behind Rory McIlroy for the Open Championship
Gary Player, one of the most noteworthy players of the sport, showered his praise at the young Rory McIlroy just ahead of the Open Championship and claimed that the young Ulsterman has everything to be the next Grand Slam winner.
Player, who won the Open Championship some 52 years ago, was 23 years old and was the youngest winner of the oldest golf event in the history. The veteran comes with an in-depth knowledge of what goes on in the mind of a young lad like McIlroy who has already
bagged a major title and is heading to pitch for another.
“I think a man like Rory can conceivably be the next Grand Slam winner – if he has the passion and the desire,” Player said, “There’s no telling how good he would be, I never thought I would live to see the day when every single U.S. Open record was crushed!”
Player has won nine major titles in his stellar career, that spanned several decades. He is also well known for the grandeur and ability of his drive and is one of the few players in the history who were with a natural swing. But his major title in 1959
Open Championship was not as comprehensive and overwhelming as McIlroy’s US Open victory last month.
The young Irishman thrashed all records to post a wire-to-wire victory at the Congressional Country Club, becoming the youngest player to win the title after Bobby Jones. Player recalled how he stumbled with a double-bogey on the last hole but still managed
to win the title, owing primarily to his performance in the preceding rounds.
“I doubled the last hole and I thought I had lost it,” he exclaimed. “It was something I could not get over for a week. I was on Cloud 9.”
McIlroy will be getting back to business this week at the Royal St. George’s at Sandwich to open up his bid for another major title in his career and will be coming out of a long break after his US Open win.
Player, while comparing the idea of taking such a long break with his times and the repercussions of such a break, admitted that it would have been a fatal flaw on player’s part to do so. Player recalled that there weren’t many events in between the majors
and the players needed to play as much as possible to secure their rankings.
Player also admitted that while holding the Claret Jug some half a century ago on the soft and balmy Scottish Summers, little had he realized that he will go ahead to win the coveted title two more times. He emphasized on the need to achieve a better control
on the mental melt downs like the one McIlroy suffered in the last round of the Masters this year.
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