Jacklin on McIlroy: "He’s had an enormous life change"

Rory McIlroy during the second round of the Open. Picture Fran Caffrey www.golffile.ieJust about anyone capable of speech has weighed in on Rory McIlroy’s annus horribilis.

Paul McGinley and Pádraig Harrington believe he needs to embrace his erratic genius and accept that he’s destined to be a rollercoaster player in the Phil Mickelson mode.

Mickelson and Tiger Woods refused to go into specifics but generally agreed that McIlroy knows what he’s doing and will bounce back.

Nick Faldo blames his move to Nike, the accompanying loss of feel and a distracting off-course life.

Graeme McDowell points to technical problems and the pressure of trying to prove too many things to too many people, such as Nike.

Tony Jacklin wins the Open a few weeks after his 25th birthday in 1969The latest to offer his opinion, when asked, is former Open and US Open champion Tony Jacklin, whose theory sounds as plausible as any - 24-year old McIlroy simply hasn’t had time to adjust to the massive changes at have occurred in his life since he went from precious young stat to world famous, major-winning, mega rich megastar in a space of a couple of years.

Jacklin told Metro: “This talk about Rory’s change of equipment has all been overblown.

“He knows what the components of his clubs were – the shaft and the swing weight, and that’s all you need to know.

“People are just looking for reasons. He’s had an enormous life change, any human being would take time to adjust to all that.

“Some of the things that have happened to him in the past few years – he’s changed his place of residence, he’s won two majors, the massive contracts he’s signed, the public attention, all this kind of stuff needs digesting and he hasn’t had time to digest it yet, it’s as simple as that.”

Jacklin added: “He’s a talented young individual that’s going through a tough time, he’ll bounce back. He just needs a break, needs to be able to get away.

“I don’t like to see Rory humiliated, as he was [at Muirfield]. It wasn’t fun for the lad, I feel for him.

“His achievements means he attracts this incredible media attention, some people think he’s Superman but he’s just a human being like the rest of us.

“With this incredible microscope on him, it’s very hard. If I was him, I’d clear off where nobody knew me for five or six months.

“He’s a great talent, and he will return.”