Rory McIlroy

[Ulster's Best]

McIlroy has been to busy with his girl friend and has consequently lost the number 1 spot cause he was shopping, and I expect him to not be at the races for the Masters...

What age are ye???

[madridlion]

Took another week choosing not to play in us or germany. Big music festival in isle of wight

[madridlion]

Belated congratulations to Rory on winning U.S. P.G.A. and to Caroline for reaching the semis in Canada the same weekend, her first good result in a while.

[Peg Leg]

Rory feels more British than Irish Which is probably a bit annoying for the golfing union of Ireland.

[tackle-bag]

Rory feels more British than Irish Which is probably a bit annoying for the golfing union of Ireland.

Full article here:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/golf/a ... mpics.html

As the article correctly points out, this is a slightly bizarre announcement which has been made at a fairly inopportune moment. McIlroy would do well to remember the amount of support he received, both in financial terms and otherwise, from the GUI and the Irish golf community at large over the past decade.

If the guy feels 100% British, that's his prerogative, but he will lose an awful lot of loyal support. Given that he seems effectively to have disavowed any connection with Ireland, I certainly won't be cheering him on with any great zeal any more.

As against all of this must be added the caveat that his remarks could potentially have been taken out of context, especially considering that this is the Daily Mail we're talking about. The number of direct quotes in the article, relative to the overall length of the text, is surprisingly small.

[jezzer]

How could anybody be annoyed about the way somebody feels about themselves?

If Rory feels British then fair play to him and I applaud him just coming out and saying it. Anyone who stops supporting him as a result wasn't really supporting him in the first place, were they?

As for the GUI, they have done very well out of the exploits of Clarke, GMac and McIlroy lately. As an island of Ireland body, nothing really changes as a result of Rory feeling British. They continue to control the golfing scene north of the border and benefit from the amazing success of the Nordie players.

Padraig will be happy. Maybe it was him who hacked Rory's Twitter and put the message out there!

[Apocrypha]

The late, great Malcolm X sagely differenciated between the house and the field...

[tackle-bag]

How could anybody be annoyed about the way somebody feels about themselves?

As I've said above, it's entirely his prerogative. No-one is annoyed at him, nor should they be.

Anyone who stops supporting him as a result wasn't really supporting him in the first place, were they?

This is a point that is often made, but which I never quite understand. Are there not a whole host of sportsmen and sportswomen whom you support only, or at least to a greater extent, because they are Irish? Roy Keane is a bit of a pr!ck if we're being honest. If he were English or French or Senegalese, many of us would revile him as little more than a street thug, but I always wanted him to succeed because of his performances in a green jersey.

I've never really warmed to McIlroy on a personal level. Of the current batch of players from the island of Ireland, he's probably my least favourite in terms of personality and attitude. The only reason I would support him ahead of my favourite foreign players (e.g. Mickelson) derives from a sense of identity and national pride which I thought we had in common. I'm not saying that I now dislike the guy or anything like that, just that I won't be shouting for him the next time he goes down the stretch with someone like Phil.

[Degz]

Rory McIlroy in declaring he wants to earn more money, non-shocker.

Seriously though, the guy will get more in sponsership from the UK than he will from Ireland. I'm sure he'll be in the running for SPOTY this year.

[R-Dog]

Rory is also keeping all his cards open.

The Olympic golf format will combine 60 competitors to go for golf Gold in Rio. The criteria for the most part is fairly straightforward; it would consist of the top 15 players in the OWGR (Official World Gold Rankings) regardless of country. After that, players would be eligible based on world rankings as well, but with a maximum of two eligible players from each country that do not already have two or more players among the top 15.

Rory could easily find him self ranked behind two other uk golfers and out of the top 15, its 4 years away and a lot could happen, injury loss of form etc.

Similarly Gmac will avoid declaring to keep all options open.

Harrington has already suggested Rory declare for the uk to get more irish golfers (him) at the Olympics

[cormac]

Rory McIlroy in declaring he wants to earn more money, non-shocker.

Seriously though, the guy will get more in sponsership from the UK than he will from Ireland. I'm sure he'll be in the running for SPOTY this year.

He's a famous international sports figure and likely to become more so in the next few years. He's not likely to be relying on British or Irish sponsors.

His thinking on the issue seems a little muddled to me, he's obviously felt more British than Irish for some time, yet he's represented Ireland at amateur and professional team events for a number of years now. Why change just for the Olympics?

Obviously it's his decision to make but he'd hardly be the first person who felt more British than Irish to represent Ireland on the world stage.

[tackle-bag]

His thinking on the issue seems a little muddled to me, he's obviously felt more British than Irish for some time, yet he's represented Ireland at amateur and professional team events for a number of years now. Why change just for the Olympics?

To be fair to him, he hasn't had much option by reason of the fact that:- (a) the GUI is a 32 county institution; and (b) the countries comprising Great Britain are represented separately for most team events. Taking the World Cup of Golf in which he has represented Ireland, for instance, there are separate teams for England, Scotland and Wales. If McIlroy wasn't to represent Ireland, who would he play for? He may feel more British than Irish, but I'm sure he feels more Irish than he does English or Scottish.

[Sauvignon Blank]

I've never really warmed to McIlroy on a personal level. Of the current batch of players from the island of Ireland, he's probably my least favourite in terms of personality and attitude. The only reason I would support him ahead of my favourite foreign players (e.g. Mickelson) derives from a sense of identity and national pride which I thought we had in common. I'm not saying that I now dislike the guy or anything like that, just that I won't be shouting for him the next time he goes down the stretch with someone like Phil.

Spot on tackle-bag. My sentiments exactly.

[Sauvignon Blank]

How could anybody be annoyed about the way somebody feels about themselves?

If Rory feels British then fair play to him and I applaud him just coming out and saying it. Anyone who stops supporting him as a result wasn't really supporting him in the first place, were they?

As for the GUI, they have done very well out of the exploits of Clarke, GMac and McIlroy lately. As an island of Ireland body, nothing really changes as a result of Rory feeling British. They continue to control the golfing scene north of the border and benefit from the amazing success of the Nordie players. Padraig will be happy. Maybe it was him who hacked Rory's Twitter and put the message out there!

Whats this 'control of the northern golfing scene' you speak of ? I'm curious.

And how they 'benefit from the amazing success' you speak of ? even more curious.

[jezzer]

How could anybody be annoyed about the way somebody feels about themselves?

If Rory feels British then fair play to him and I applaud him just coming out and saying it. Anyone who stops supporting him as a result wasn't really supporting him in the first place, were they?

As for the GUI, they have done very well out of the exploits of Clarke, GMac and McIlroy lately. As an island of Ireland body, nothing really changes as a result of Rory feeling British. They continue to control the golfing scene north of the border and benefit from the amazing success of the Nordie players. Padraig will be happy. Maybe it was him who hacked Rory's Twitter and put the message out there!

Whats this 'control of the northern golfing scene' you speak of ? I'm curious.

And how they 'benefit from the amazing success' you speak of ? even more curious.

Take it to Planet Rugby would you? I'm sure you'll find any number of people there willing to engage in your tiresome sarcasm.

[Sauvignon Blank]

How could anybody be annoyed about the way somebody feels about themselves?

If Rory feels British then fair play to him and I applaud him just coming out and saying it. Anyone who stops supporting him as a result wasn't really supporting him in the first place, were they?

As for the GUI, they have done very well out of the exploits of Clarke, GMac and McIlroy lately. As an island of Ireland body, nothing really changes as a result of Rory feeling British. They continue to control the golfing scene north of the border and benefit from the amazing success of the Nordie players. Padraig will be happy. Maybe it was him who hacked Rory's Twitter and put the message out there!

Whats this 'control of the northern golfing scene' you speak of ? I'm curious.

And how they 'benefit from the amazing success' you speak of ? even more curious.

Take it to Planet Rugby would you? I'm sure you'll find any number of people there willing to engage in your tiresome sarcasm.

Legitimate questions i'd say, and if i'm being sarcastic it's only in response to you being so.

I don't do Planet Rugby.

[Ulster's Best]

Bit of an unfortunate thing that this has cropped up so soon. Nothing contradictory re McIlroy feeling British and proudly representing Ireland - the same probably goes for the majority of our rugby internationals from Ulster. Cricket too for that matter. I'm British too in the sense of being happy to be a UK citizen etc but unquestionably Irish when eg England come to Dublin for a rugby international or I'm at Twickenham.

[fourthirtythree]

Maybe I live in a bubble but I haven't heard anyone annoyed or offended. You feel what you feel. Nobody else's business how you identify yourself. I know plenty of rabid Ireland fans that are loyal subjects rather than citizens.

Which I think is great.

[Apocrypha]

Bit of an unfortunate thing that this has cropped up so soon. Nothing contradictory re McIlroy feeling British and proudly representing Ireland - the same probably goes for the majority of our rugby internationals from Ulster. Cricket too for that matter. I'm British too in the sense of being happy to be a UK citizen etc but unquestionably Irish when eg England come to Dublin for a rugby international or I'm at Twickenham.

Apologies for being pedantic, but people from the six counties are British subjects - unless they renouce such citizenship in favour of Ireland (a la James McLean). What they certainly are not is British. People from Britain (i.e. England, Scotland and Wales) are British.

If Rory feels British then good for him. I feel Jamaican every time I drink Lilt: 'Cha Rastafari!', I'm heard to say...

[West Brit]

Bit of an unfortunate thing that this has cropped up so soon. Nothing contradictory re McIlroy feeling British and proudly representing Ireland - the same probably goes for the majority of our rugby internationals from Ulster. Cricket too for that matter. I'm British too in the sense of being happy to be a UK citizen etc but unquestionably Irish when eg England come to Dublin for a rugby international or I'm at Twickenham.

Apologies for being pedantic, but people from the six counties are British subjects - unless they renouce such citizenship in favour of Ireland (a la James McLean). What they certainly are not is British. People from Britain (i.e. England, Scotland and Wales) are British.

If Rory feels British then good for him. I feel Jamaican every time I drink Lilt: 'Cha Rastafari!', I'm heard to say...

Sorry to be pedantic but you do realise that nobody has been a British subject since 1983 when Britain changed their citizenship laws? Rory McIlroy is a British citizen, not a subject.

I'm not sure what people mean when they say that nobody in the north is British. I realise that strictly speaking it is not part of Great Britain, but if British people move elsewhere (as in the plantations) then surely they remain British? If not, what would be the correct adjective for somebody living in the Channel Islands or the Falklands? Are they British (genuine question)?