Despite the fact that I'm about to go and defend him, the point of this really isn't to defend Rory McIlroy. He's one of the highest paid sports stars in the world, he has endorsement deals coming out of his arse and quite frankly, he probably couldn't care less about what anyone in Ireland is saying about him on Twitter. He doesn't need defending.
After his Irish Open win and subsequent charity donation back in May, I wrote that it was time for all the bullshit around McIlroy to end. Enough of the 'west Brit' stuff and enough of the accusations that he doesn't care about Ireland.
If I'm being honest, my first reaction to the news that he had pulled out of the Olympics was that he's made me look like a right gobshite. He'd proven the dissenting voices correct and we'd never hear the end of it now. Worse still, there'd be no defending him. He never really wanted to play in the Olympics and Zika just so happened to provide a way out.
The common consensus seems to be that the Zika excuse is nonsense. For one thing, Zika has spread beyond Brazil.
Lastly, amazed McIlroy plays the Masters or southern-US-states tournaments in summer or touches Florida all-year. pic.twitter.com/10MdFhZ3i9
— Ewan MacKenna (@EwanMacKenna) June 22, 2016
What about all those PGA events in Florida during the summer? What about those pictures of him on a beach in Barbados living it up as if he's the 17th best paid athlete on the planet? Absolutely no thought of Zika when it comes representing himself, but when it comes to representing Ireland, suddenly it's critical that he pull out of his commitments?
All the above questions are of course, bolloxology of the highest order. There's two ways to go about defending McIlroy here. First off, let's accept that he was looking for an excuse to get out of representing Ireland. Let's assume that commercial considerations trump any loyalty to Irish golf and he was guilt-tripped into declaring for Ireland. So what?
The thing is, none of it matters. What matters is the fact that he was put in a dog shit situation that wasn't his doing.
It's quite possible that he's since changed his mind but, back in 2012, McIlroy said the following words that will forever be hung around his neck from an Irish point of view.
Maybe it was the way I was brought up, I don't know, but I have always felt more of a connection with the UK than with Ireland. And so I have to weigh that up against the fact that I've always played for Ireland and so it is tough.
Since then, he's managed to dance around the issue gracefully, but let's assume it's a sentiment he still holds.
So what? It really doesn't matter. He's dedicated his life to becoming quite possibly the best golfer in the world on his day. He's an individual, playing an individual sport. He wants nothing to do with issues of nationality but golf was introduced to the Olympics and he was caught between a rock and a hard place so he made a choice that he always wanted to get out of but just didn't know how.
Or maybe, just maybe, Zika really is a legitimate worry for him.
Am sure there will be those who will criticise McIlroy for skipping Olympics over Zika fears. Am also sure they'll have no bloody right to
— James Corrigan (@jcorrigangolf) June 22, 2016
The thing is, McIlroy can afford to be worried about Zika. The likes of Darren O'Neill and Natalya Coyle can't. That's by no means a criticism of their point of view but it's a simple reality. Why would golfers take any risk at all for the pursuit of a goal that has never had any bearing on their sport?
There's no point denying that. Darren O'Neill and Natalya Coyle give their everything for the Olympics because that's the pinnacle. The miniscule chance of contracting Zika is not going to put them off by any stretch of the imagination.
An Olympic medal is not even close to what Rory McIlroy has been thinking about over the past ten years. The same thing can be said of the Australian pair Marc Leishman and Adam Scott or the prospective South African team of Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen. There's five golfers to pull out already with plenty more likely to follow them.
The introduction of golf back into the Olympics along with the acceptance of professional footballers and even basketball players, has cheapened the Games and that's where the real problem lies.
Watching Marvin Sordell strutting his stuff for Team GB in 2012, was the ultimate proof of that. It's no longer a question of amateurism vs professionalism but it is a question of priority. The Olympics should be the pinnacle and for the sports where it is something of a novelty, then we're going to keep seeing more of this.
McIlroy made his decision for himself, for his career and quite probably for any future family he's planning on having.
How can anyone expect something that never mattered for him to suddenly override his personal life?
And as for the question of loyalty to Irish golf, he does more than enough with his patronage of the Irish Open to ensure that he shouldn't need to answer another question on it.
