Media and golfer alike are marveling over the fact that Rory McIlroy is even in the hunt at the BMW PGA Championship. But that's what happens when the weight of the world is off your shoulders.
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McIlroy battled the elements Friday to shoot a 1-under 71 and is at 5-under 139 at what heraldscotland.com calls the European Tour's flagship event. The 25-year-old Irishman is five strokes behind Thomas Bjorn and Shane Lowry, just two days after announcing his breakup with tennis player Caroline Wozniacki.
In its second-round recap, heraldscotland.com reported, "With 36 holes to play, McIlroy is still in the hunt. Given the current state of his mangled mind, and the fact that he had missed the cut at Wentworth in his last two appearances here, McIlroy's presence in the upper echelons is worthy of admiration."
McIlroy himself said that he is pleasantly surprised by his play, under the circumstances.
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"Hopefully I can make a run at it," McIlroy said, as reported by heraldscotland.com. "I have exceeded my expectations so far. I don't know about exceeding them wildly, but reasonably at least.
"I think once you get inside the ropes, you are concentrating on your golf. It's almost like it's a nice four or five hours of a release in some way just to get everything out of your head apart from doing the job at hand. You can't let your mind wander at all when you're trying to win a golf tournament. It's the hours in the day when you're away from the golf that are probably a little more difficult."
However, according to one sports book, McIlroy entered the tournament this week as the favorite (see below).
Except that is it really that difficult for McIlroy? As Sergio Garcia said, and the rest of us know, it's much easier being the person ending the relationship than it is being the person dumped. If McIlroy didn't want to get married, his psyche must've been in a horrible place when he realized that the wedding invitations had gone out.
So to get out of that had to have taken a two-ton burden off his shoulders. That's not to say that Wednesday's news conference wasn't tough on him; it had to be extremely exhausting, embarrassing and painful.
But when that was over, McIlroy could be forgiven for feeling lighter than air. He can play golf again with his future free and clear. He no longer has to deal with thoughts of whether he's making a huge mistake by marrying Wozniacki or how he can possibly get out of the relationship at this late stage.
Leader Bjorn, a Dane like Wozniacki, had nothing but praise for McIlroy's ability to compartmentalize.
"It says a lot about his character that he can still focus on the job and go out and perform the way he has," Bjorn said of McIlroy, according to Scotsman.com. "I don't know what is going on in his mind, but he is determined to show the world that he is still a good player. ..."
Especially when he is unburdened by an engagement he had been regretting.
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