BACK IN THE SWING: Rory McIlroy smiles during a practice round at the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Doral, Fla., less than a week after quitting the Honda Classic under questionable circumstances. (Getty Images)
DORAL, Fla. — Rory McIlroy always has been a quick study.
On the golf course, he was such a fast learner that by age 13 he was outdriving his father, Gerry, who was a scratch player at the time.
If you are a believer that McIlroy’s extraordinary success is all about his God-given physical abilities, then you should be even more impressed by his maturity and the way he handles himself off the golf course — last week’s quitting incident notwithstanding.
The 23-year-old McIlroy exhibited petulant, selfish behavior when he bailed in the middle of his Honda Classic second round last Friday because he was playing poorly — and he was justifiably criticized for his actions.
But, having witnessed and analyzed the way McIlroy had handled himself in the face of adversity up to that point in his career, I believe this was a blip on the radar for him, an aberration.
I believe the remarkable grace McIlroy displayed in the wake of his meltdown at the Masters in 2011, when he blew a four-shot lead by shooting a final-round 80, is closer to who McIlroy is than his actions last Friday.
I believe last week was McIlroy’s immature moment — Tiger Woods had many while growing up in a similar world stage fishbowl that McIlroy is now — and it’s something we won’t see happen again.
Though he followed Woods as his idol on the golf course, McIlroy, too, closely observed Woods’ actions off of it, and he has been determined not to succumb to the same pitfalls Woods has, such as closing out the rest of the world and trusting few.
“I actually think in the long run, Friday will be a blessing in disguise,’’ McIlroy said Wednesday. “It was like it just sort of released a valve and all that pressure that I’ve been putting on myself just went away. I’m in a very privileged position. I get to play a game that I love for a living and I need to remember that.’’
McIlroy, who will be paired with Woods and Luke Donald in the first two rounds of the WGC-Cadillac Championship beginning Thursday at Doral, took full ownership of his Honda Classic gaffe Wednesday.
“I regret what I did, but it’s over now and it won’t happen again,’’ McIlroy said. “I realized pretty quickly that it wasn’t the right thing to do. No matter how bad I was playing I should have stayed out there. It was a mistake.’’
When McIlroy quit, he told reporters he was “not in a good place mentally.’’ Then, a short time later, his representative released a statement blaming wisdom tooth pain as the reason for the withdrawal.
Asked yesterday which was the truth, McIlroy said, “Both. I wasn’t in a good place with my golf game. Mentally, my head was all over the place. But at the same time, I have been struggling with my lower right wisdom tooth for over a year. So, yeah, my tooth was bothering me, but it wasn’t bothering me enough to quit.’’
McIlroy said his walk-off was the result of “a buildup of everything.’’
“It was a buildup of high expectations from myself coming off such a great year last year and wanting to continue that form into this year and not being able to do it,’’ he said. “I just sort of let it all get to me. I feel like I let a lot of people down with what I did last week, and for that I am very sorry.
“Everyone makes mistakes. I’m 23 years old. I’m still learning. I’ve hopefully got 20, 25 more years of this to do.’’
Based on the mature way McIlroy has conducted himself up until last week’s incident, he has built up enough collateral to be given a mulligan on the Honda walk-off.
“Listen, I was also 22, 23 — I’m 43 now — and when 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,’’ Ernie Els said jokingly.
“He’s a great kid and he’s a great player.’’