Rory McIlroy’s decade-long major drought has been well publicised and the world number three acknowledged the fact in his pre-Olympic Games press conference where he appeared alongside fellow Irish teammate Shane Lowry at Le Golf National in Paris.
And while 2024 to date will be highlighted by his failure to land one of the game’s biggest prizes, winning a Gold Medal – in addition to his three victories to date across the DP World and PGA Tours – would go a long way to filling the void.
“It would be the achievement, certainly of the year, if not — I think for me, it’s well documented that I haven’t won one of the Big Four in ten years. It would probably be one if, if not the biggest in my career for the last ten years,” the Holywood man said.
Since golf returned as an Olympic sport in 2016 at the Zika virus-affected Rio Games and then made it’s second bow in Tokyo in 2021 following the COVID-19 pandemic, the Olympic’s hierarchy within golf has been very much in question, but McIlroy feels that, with time, its status will only grow.
“Again I’ve been asked this question a lot,” he explained, “‘where would an Olympic Medal sit in sort of the hierarchy of my career achievements?’ and it’s something I probably won’t be able
to answer until when everything is said and done.
“I think as golf is in the Olympics for a longer period of time, it will become more of — I don’t know if anything will be able to sit alongside the majors. We have our four events a year that are the gold standard. But I think this is going to be — in time, going to be right up there amongst that.”
Le Golf National is a course that McIlroy knows well having played several French Opens and, most famously, the 2018 Ryder Cup on the Parisian layout and he is hoping that the good vibes from Europe’s memorable victory over the United States can help spur him on to get the medal that he narrowly missed out on in Tokyo.
“Yeah, it’s a great golf course,” he said. “Obviously some great memories for me from the 2018 Ryder Cup here. I’ve played a few French Opens as well. Yeah, it’s great to be back.
“We both had a great time in Tokyo three years ago, and great to team up again. Personally, I was close to getting a medal that time and obviously would love to try to go one, two or three better and get a medal.
“Yeah, I’m excited for the week.”
The qualification process for the Olympic Games has come under scrutiny as reigning US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau is among those who have found themselves on the outside looking in this week, but McIlroy feels that the qualification criteria is in line with other sports as much as it can be.
“Yeah, I think that’s the nature of qualification for the Olympics,” he said. “I mean, you could have the fifth-best sprinter in the world but if he’s from a certain country, he’s not able to make it.
“So I think it’s just the way that the qualification works in the Olympic Games, and that’s not just in golf. That’s in other disciplines, as well.”
DeChambeau’s status as a LIV Golf player whose only world rankings points and Olympic Golf qualification points come in the major championships is the reason why he narrowly missed out and would surely have ranked higher than at least one of the four American competitors had he been playing on the PGA Tour, but despite acknowledging that there are players good enough to be there who aren’t, he doesn’t feel that LIV events should be recognised in the rankings.
“I mean, I don’t think there’s any other way to do it because it’s hard to compare the golf that they play to the golf that we play,” he said. “That’s the reason they didn’t get World Ranking points, right. So if you want to qualify for the Olympics, you knew what you had to do. Just like if you wanted to qualify for the Ryder Cup, you knew what you had to do. They were very aware of the decision they made when they did.”
There has been some chatter that the L.A. Games in 2028 will see different formats within the golfing events, with the possibility of team or mixed play mooted and it would be a change that McIlroy would welcome.
“Yeah, absolutely,” he replied when asked his thoughts on different formats. “I think different — that was the thing, when golf got back in the Olympics in 2016, I think some people were surprised that it was only individual stroke play, and they didn’t try to mix it up with some different formats.
“So you know, if that came to fruition in L.A. where there was a mixed-team event, or even — and another team event that was not mixed and Shane and I could play in it if we qualify, yeah, I’d love that. I think that would be a great format to bring to this competition.”
Le Golf National is famed for being a difficult test, favouring accuracy off the tee and though it’s not quite as penal in the rough just off the fairway as it had been at the Ryder Cup in 2018, McIroy still expects it to ask tough questions this week.
“I think when I played a practice round, it’s a good setup,” he said after joking that the press needed to ask the Americans how tough the rough had actually been in 2018. “I think it would be similar to like a PGA setup. You know, it’s pretty big, fast greens, but pretty thick rough around the greens.
“I think if you miss fairways, it’s a little hit and miss. I got some pretty bad lies out there, and I know there were some lies that were okay but definitely lose a lot of control of your ball. The greens have got a little bit of bounce to them already, I would say. So I think it’s a good test.”
The men’s Olympic Golf competition gets underway on Thursday, played as a 72-hole strokeplay event Thursday through Sunday.
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