Rory McIlroy sticks by Ireland after Olympic realisation
 

:hee: Good man Rory

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The problem for Rory McIlroy is one of having to walk on eggshells. Damned if you do; damned if you don’t. In reaffirming his original intention to represent Ireland in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, the Northern Irishman has, it would seem, taken a more surefooted approach than when he first took the decision back in 2014.

Of course, McIlroy never made it to Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Games. The zika virus, borne by mosquitoes, provided a rather convenient escape route and, if we’re honest, it never really seemed that his heart was ever in it. After all, he’d never grown up dreaming of an Olympic gold. For him, it was about claret jugs, green jackets, the Wanamaker and US Open trophies.

And, for sure, it still is about those Majors. Not just for McIlroy, but for all those elite golfers, from all over the globe, who believe the four Majors represent the pinnacle of their sport.

Change of heart
Yet, McIlroy has gone from questioning why golf was ever made an Olympic sport to realising that it is one. He has had, and is entitled to have, something of a change of heart on that viewpoint.

“No matter what your feelings are towards what sports should be and shouldn’t be in the Olympics, it is not up for me to decide. Seeing golf is in the Olympics and I am one of the best players in the world, I think it is a cool thing to go,” he said.

But he hasn’t had a change of mind about who to represent: Ireland.

And, as McIlroy spoke to us here at Bethpage Black ahead of the US PGA Championship, there was clarity and maturity in the words he used to explain why there would be no change of mind. He conceded “it is a sensitive landscape I have to try and work”. He has seen how rugby players and hockey players and others have successfully managed to negotiate such pathways, and – in fairness – he also revisited his own pride at representing Ireland in his amateur days.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gol...tion-1.3892523

seems fair like the rugby team

:fc: i will be supporting him in the next 4 days