McIlroy won't be another Sergio Garcia says manager
Rory McIlroy and his caddie, JP FitzgeraldRory McIlroy won’t become another Sergio Garcia and suffer 11 years of major torture.
That’s the view of the Holywood star’s manager Chubby Chandler, who sees the life of the troubled Spanish star as a lesson to be learned.
Garcia, 30, went berserk at Whistling Straits when he lashed a bunker five times with his club as he crashed to a missed cut to remain winless after 41 majors starts as a pro.
The former world No 2, who has struggled badly with his putter, will miss the Ryder Cup as he takes two months out of the game.
But Chandler does not believe that McIlroy will end up the same way, despite missing a series of vital putts as he came down the stretch on Sunday.
Chandler said: “You have to look around at what is going on, don’t you. And you see what is happening to Sergio and you have to take things out of that to make sure it doesn’t happen to Rory.”
The ISM boss believes McIlroy will learn from his third place finish in the US PGA and go from strength to strength.
He explained: “Rory is getting better and better and he is getting more experience all the time. On the front nine today [Sunday] he had a tough start but hung in there. Twelve months ago he would have gone out in 40 and been out of it. He’ll look back on this tomorrow morning and think it was a great week.”
Garcia shot to fame in the US PGA in 1999 when he finished second to Tiger Woods at Medinah. He was expected to go on and become a multiple major winner but has just three runner up finishes to his credit - two of them at the hands of Padraig Harrington.
McIlroy is well advised and Chandler believes the young Ulsterman knows how to listen. He said: “He is very, very astute at listening to the right bits and tosses out the stuff that doesn’t matter. You can imagine the number of people who are trying to tell him what to do.
“Outside of us, everybody has got a theory. Everybody tells him he should be this and he should be that.”
As for McIlroy’s putting, it’s improving all the time and despite missing several chances on Sunday he still finished sixth in the putting charts at Whistling Straits.
Chandler said: “His putting is getting better and better. I thought he was brilliant on the greens. He made a lot of putts that would have finished his round off early.
A lot of putts. “And then he made a lot of putts coming down the stretch that also kept him in it. That is where he is going to improve.”
McIlroy’s caddie JP Fitzgerald has come in for heavy criticism from some sectors of the British press in recent weeks.
But Chandler defends the Irish bagman to the hilt, insisting he’s the perfect “minder” for his precious star.
While he has never claimed to be the best caddie in the world, Fitzgerald has toted the bag for a host of stars such as Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke and Ernie Els.
“JP is a very protective individual,” Chandler said when asked if McIlroy had received approaches from other coaches. “He would make sure that doesn’t happen. JP gets abit of stick but an awful lot goes around Rory McIlroy that a normal caddie wouldn’t do.
“If you take the bits that JP does very well, it may make up for the fact that he is not the best caddie in the world. But he is certainly one of the better caddies in the world and for Rory he is definitely the best caddie in the world.”
Improving McIlroy will not be easy but Chandler believes that the youngster could add a few more shots to his armoury.
“Decision making and shot-making,” when asked about the areas that could be tidied up. Without mentioning McIlroy’s putting, which is improving slowly, Chandler added: “He is a great shot maker but it is the same shot all the time. He plays the same stock shot and there are more shots coming in.
“In four years’ time we will have the same conversation and he will play totally differently. Ball-flight will be down and it will be totally different. He hasn’t got any experience really. He is just getting it after playing only nine majors in his life. And only eight of them as a pro.”