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RORY LAND: THE UP-AND-DOWN WORLD OF GOLF'S GLOBAL ICON
Timothy M. Gay
New York & Nashville: Regalo Press, 2025
428 pages, $35
> Purchase
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Consider me an old-school writer, but I’m of the view that winning a PGA Tour event is a hell of an achievement; winning a major is akin to a lifetime miracle. And yet among the many curiosities of Rory McIlroy’s career is that he is judged more harshly for not winning a major in the last decade than for winning four of them by the age of 25.
As Timothy M. Gay’s fascinating new biography, 'Rory Land: The Up-and-Down World of Golf's Global Icon' (due out on May 13), makes clear, that oddity of public (mis)perception has much to do with expectations that McIlroy and his tight-knit circle of advisors created early on in his golf career.
How early? Like by the age of 9, when he won the 1998 Doral Junior Under-10 World Championship in Miami. By age 11, he was playing to a handicap of three at Holywood Golf Club, a working man’s course in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His parents, Gerry and Rose, scrimped, saved and worked all hours of the day and night to make their only child’s golf training possible. Travel was greatly aided by the generosity of the Golfing Union of Ireland.
Gay’s account does not hold back from revealing the street terrors of “The Troubles” inflicted on the country because of bitter conflict between Catholics and Protestants, and the ensuing tug of war between those Loyalists aligned with Great Britain and Republicans allied with Ireland.
McIlroy was raised as a Catholic but was also schooled in an enlightened, ecumenical setting — until he left high school at age 15 while the equivalent of a sophomore to pursue further golf training. The McIlroy family was not spared the ravages of the civil war. McIlroy’s great uncle had been assassinated in 1972.
McIlroy’s reputation as a force to be reckoned with had been solidified at Royal Portrush Golf Club during the 2005 North of Ireland Championship. The 16-year-old blistered the world-famous course with a second round 61. Amateur titles came his way, along with invites to play in the Middle East — a premonition of globe-trotting at a breathless pace that would define him throughout his career. He turned professional at the age of 18 and immediately qualified for the European Tour, winning his first title 17 months later at the Dubai Desert Classic and reaching No. 16 in the world rankings.
By then he was firmly in the clutches of international business agent Chubby Chandler, whose folio of clients included Darren Clarke, Louis Oosthuizen, Lee Westwood and many other footballers and cricketeers. The millions McIlroy made on course were more than surpassed by lucrative corporate sponsorship deals. But here is where the story gets a bit dark in terms of career management, according to Gay’s detailed account. McIlroy wanted more control, a more streamlined and themed approach to identity branding than the NASCAR-style patchwork approach he was caught up in.
In what turned out to be an impetuous decision, he signed a new deal with an upstart marketing firm at a Christmas holiday party without input from an attorney. Good thing he made a fortune with Horizon Sports Management. When McIlroy finally decided to break away and take control of his own, the ensuing legal battle cost him ugly media publicity as well as some $100,000 a day in attorney’s fees at court. He finally settled, paying out as much as $20 million to resolve the issue. This part of Gay’s account is fascinating.
Less interesting to endure were developments on the romantic front. Here, McIlroy did a lousy hiding behind a shield. It did not help that among his momentary sweethearts was the No. 1 tennis player in the world, Caroline Wozniacki. The resulting tabloid item, dubbed “Wozzilroy,” involved two years of an elite athletic pair trying to meet up at five-star restaurants and hotels while each pursued their playing career. McIlroy dumped her shortly after they announced their wedding plans — and did so with the same lack of public empathy as he later expressed when he fired his longtime caddie, J.P. Fitzgerald.
Nonetheless, McIlroy’s golf resume was solidified, thanks to a steady stream of wins on the U.S. and European circuits, as well as stirring major wins — at the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional, the 2012 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course, the 2014 Open Championship at Hoylake/Royal Liverpool, and a month later yet another PGA Championship, this one at Valhalla in Kentucky.
The problem is less what McIlroy achieved by the age of 25 and more about what he didn’t achieve later: more major victories. To Gay’s credit, the account here is a sympathetic one, though in his words, “this ain’t no hagiography.” Instead, he explores the pressures of trying to win and the fine margin of error involved. The reader comes away with a distinct sense of being there inside the ropes, and sometimes on the analyst’s couch next to McIlroy. We’re right there, whether it’s the heeled tee shot on the 10th tee of Sunday’s 2011 Masters; the frustration of not being able to birdie any holes on the back nine of the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews; the nearly buried lie on the 14th hole of Sunday’s 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club; or the sickening misses of two short putts on the 70th and 72nd greens at the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst.
Thankfully, there are no diagrammed how-to studies of McIlroy’s swing in this book. Instead, this is a well-researched biography of a life lived out loud and in the public. It’s also an account of the fortress that McIlroy has built around himself — perhaps an inevitability for a global celebrity of his ilk. If that means isolating himself from writers seeking interviews off course — as was the case here for this book — it also means buckling down and isolating yourself from the inevitable scrutiny that your trade invites.
Sometimes that attitude can get in the way of winning. Among the oddities of McIlroy’s career is that he is entirely self-reliant when reading putts, including those very short ones. It’s strange not to rely more on a caddie whom you trust. Perhaps McIlroy is out to prove something — that he’s very much come out of nowhere, from the back streets of Belfast’s Holywood into the klieg lights of Hollywood. A real mark of maturity might be asking for help.
McIlroy is widely respected for his willingness to speak out frankly, though occasionally at a price. He has, for example, been open with the press in criticizing LIV Golf and backing the PGA Tour, only to have the Tour itself surprise him with an offer to work with the Saudis that made McIlroy appear to have been duped, if not naïve.
Perhaps, as this book suggests, we should respect McIlroy more for how much he has taken on, even if in the process he’s stumbled. As Gay suggests, for all the distance he has traveled culturally, he’s at his best when he stays grounded in the basic values of humility and hard work that he learned from his working-class parents.
