Rory McIlroy will make his return to action this week, with the 35-year old set to play in his first tournament since his dramatic late collapse at the US Open last month.
The Holywood native will be part of a strong field at the Scottish Open, hoping to fine tune his game ahead of The Open at Royal Troon next week. Having taken some time on the back of his second place finish at the season's most recent major, there will be plenty of eyes on how he fares at The Renaissance Club over the coming days.
The way in which Rory McIlroy came up short at the US Open caused quite a stir at the time, missing out on a golden opportunity to end his decade-long major drought. Quite a few questions were asked about his approach in the aftermath of that tournament, including when it came to his caddie.
Tiger Woods' former coach Hank Haney was among those to question the role Harry Diamond played in the collapse, most notably with the decision to go with a 7 iron for his approach shot on the 15th hole.
Rory has made a bad decision here. The bad decision is that he's kind of in between clubs - 8 iron or 7 iron. He goes with a 7 iron.
Tiger Woods would have never done that ever, ever. Rory McIlroy can send the ball straight up in the air, just like Tiger. When you've got brickhard greens, you've got to send the ball up in the air, you've got to hit a high shot. You can't be coming with some punch shot, flighted down, less-than-full trajectory. There's no way that ball is going to stop on the green.
It's a bad decision. When you get nervous, you make bad swings and you make bad decisions.
I will say this, if Steve Williams was Rory’s caddie I can promise you he would have never hit a perfect flighted 7 iron that rolled over the green on 15 into a terrible lie because he would have hit an 8 iron and sent it straight up in the air and held the green.
— Hank Haney (@HankHaney) June 18, 2024
Fellow PGA Tour Smylie Kauffman also recently spoke about Diamond's role, saying the caddie should have 'stepped in' and spoke to the player about that shot on the 15th hole.
McIlroy has now responded to those comments.
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Rory McIlroy calls out comments made about his caddie
Harry Diamond has acted as Rory McIlroy's caddie since 2017, meaning he has been part of quite a few victories for the player on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. While that success has yet to translate to the majors, the player has not welcomed the criticism directed at his man on the bag.
Speaking ahead of the Scottish Open, McIlroy called out Hank Haney for his comments after the US Open, saying he does not have the experience that makes him entitled to speak on the matter.
Hank Haney has never been in that position. Smylie has been in that position once, and I love Smylie, and he was out there with us on 18.
But just because Harry is not as vocal or loud with his words as other caddies, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t say anything and that he doesn’t do anything.
These guys that criticise when things don’t go my way, they never say anything good when things do go my way.
Where were they when I won Dubai earlier year, or Quail Hollow, or the two FedEx Cups that I’ve won with Harry, or the two Ryder Cups, or whatever? They are never there to say Harry did such a great job when I win, but they are always there to criticise when we don’t win.
At the end of the day, they are not there. They are in the in the arena. They are not the ones hitting the shots and making the decisions.
Someone said to me once, if you would never take advice from these people, you would never take their criticisms, either.
I certainly wouldn’t go to Hank Haney for advice. I love Smylie, but I think I know what I’m doing, and so does Harry.
It certainly seems as though Rory McIlroy has not doubts about the value his caddie brings whenever he is out on the course.
The Northern Irishman will command a huge amount of attention over the next couple of weeks, with golf fans keen to see how he responds to the latest setback on his long question win another major title.
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