Rory's Glory by Justin Doyle

Author:Justin Doyle
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782819868
Publisher: G2 Rights Ltd

Chapter 8

The Doldrums

In January 2013, Rory McIlroy officially became a global sports superstar. Of course he had been a superstar of golf for the previous few years. That was before he signed up as a stable mate of Tiger Woods at sports merchandise giant, Nike.

On Monday 14 January, Rory appeared at one of those specially convened conferences in front of a select audience. Reminiscent of Bill Gates and Microsoft, Cindy Davis (the President of Nike Golf) and Rory sat on stools across from each other.

She was there to announce the worst kept secret that to be doing the rounds since the end of the previous year: that Nike had signed up Rory and he would be using specially made Nike clubs from that day forward. It was out with his trusted clubs, in with the new.

With brand Nike and brand Rory now amalgamating, at that very moment he became one of the most famous and instantly recognisable faces on the planet. Nike would do with Rory what they had achieved with Tiger Woods – or so that was their best laid plans.

If both parties thought it was going to be an easy ride, that the mega bucks from worldwide sales of Nike products would flow in like petrodollars, then they were in for a very rude awakening.

From the start there were doubters with former golfers – and sports stars who use equipment – quick to point out the pitfalls and dangers of suddenly reverting to pristine new products. Foremost among them was Sir Nick Faldo. He stated:

I call it dangerous. I’ve changed clubs and changed equipment, and every manufacturer will say, ‘We can copy your clubs, we can tweak the golf ball so it fits you’. But there’s feel and sound as well as confidence. You can’t put a real value on that.

Over the following months Faldo was asked to clarify and elaborate on these points, to which Rory, obviously getting a little terse at these constant remarks, not to mention the fact he was practicing hard and long hours with the clubs, replied: ‘Nick Faldo doesn’t know how I feel over the ball.’

Rory first tried out his new clubs in late November the previous year. The day after he shot a -6, 66 (with his old Titleist clubs) to trail Luke Donald by a shot in the World Tour Championship, he gave an initial reaction to them when he divulged:

After the Ryder Cup I started to test a little bit but I’ve six or seven weeks to really get into it though I’m pretty much set with everything. It’s just a matter of getting confidence and playing a few rounds and I should be ok.

I’m very confident they [Nike’s manufacturers] will get it spot on. I’ve got a set of irons and the woods sorted and it’s just a matter of getting the ball dialed in. It’s the feel of the ball that I find is the most important thing because really, every manufacturer makes great equipment these days.

Former

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.