Rory McIlroy: The player, the brand, the future!

Rory McIlroy: arguably the brightest prospect of the modern game

What a year it has been for Rory McIlroy! From a scintillating performance at Congressional in the summer to clinch his only major championship to his recent victory at the Shanghai Masters, it’s been a year where he may even have exceeded his own expectations. This remarkable stint on the course was also well complimented by an expansive development of the ‘McIlroy’ brand, which certainly looks one of the most intriguing prospects post-Tiger era.

He’s largely been that flamboyant character the sport needed so dearly when the popularity of the game was facing one of its darkest periods. Be it his effortless putting abilities, his marketability or his much talked about relationship with the world’s No 1 tennis player, Caroline Wozniacki, he has always been one of the favorites of the International media. But, what we can certainly observe in recent times is that Rory’s brand management is creating some unwanted fuss.

To be fair, no agent has ever won a major tournament or played a Ryder Cup, or even signed a multimillion sponsorship deal. It’s always the player’s potential and his abilities to execute it on the biggest occasion that makes him a force to reckon with, and success off the course is just a bonus to cap your achievements. Why should anyone care that Andrew Chandler of International Sports Management has been dumped for Conor Ridge of the Dublin-based company Horizon Sports? Maybe, Rory thinks it would boost his brand and would help it to spread globally, but frankly speaking, it’s better for the player and the surrounding media if we can just get on with the game.

Rory's biggest victory at the 111th US Open, earlier this year

The reason for this is Rory himself. The world was always looking for the next dominant personality in professional golf after the decline of Tiger Woods, and who else but a 22yr old promising youngster, primed to reach the pinnacle of sport. The media never bothered to look ahead for any other marketing star in the business, as Rory has always been a perfect package. His witty and rather controversial one-liners, which reminds me of his stern exchanges with the media the PGA Championship in Atlanta, where he injured his wrist on the opening day, “He’s my caddie, not my father,” as he replied to a reporter, who asked whether Fitzgerald might have talked him out of the shot. Rory, as always had his typical way of comeback.

More importantly, he needs to find a balance between his on field performances, immense media expectations and his market ability. If he is looking for inspiration, he should look no further than Nick Faldo, or more recently, Phil Mickelson, to luminaries of the game who have drawn a fine line between matters, on and off the course.

Things could go perfectly fine if he maintains a discipline in every aspect of his living, else he also has many contradicting examples to look forward to, when young golfing prodigies were unable to juggle the pros and cons of a professional sport. His rival in the playoffs for the Shanghai Masters, the American Anthony Kim, was at his peak of powers at the same age of 22, was tipped to end Tiger’s dominance in the coming years. But, then came along a number of recurring hand injuries, a lot of partying and a slender decline. It’s surprising, how quickly things can change in professional sport, and a similar case of decline is never too far away.

Rory returns to winning ways at the inaugral Shanghai Masters

However, when it comes to delivering the best on those greens, Rory has been the favorite of many pundits in this season. His attacking approach, fearless shot making abilities combined with a gifted sense of vision still provides a perfect mix of a promising future of the sport. A name which could be synonymous to modern golf, as Tiger was for so many years. Still, I do have a feeling that it’s too early to write off a comeback from the legend, one thing is for sure that he has many more contender fighting for each and every competition.

It’s not for nothing Rory is compared with Woods at an early age, he certainly has unrivalled talent. His composed performances at the tour this year have been very impressive, a platform to achieve great things in the future. Even Padraig Harrington has tipped him to surpass the all-time record of Jack Nicklaus‘s 18 majors. Though, it’s still early days, but the young Irishman has done pretty well to earn such plaudits, and if he lets his golf do all the talking rather than his twitter account, we are in for an exciting ‘Rory’ show next season.