Double PGA winning Dave Stockton paid World No. 3 Rory McIlroy a huge compliment on the eve of the 94th PGA Championship declaring he’s the oldest 23-year old he’s met.
McIlroy has also been spending time these past two weeks with putting coach, Dave Stockton.
It was Stockton, who also captained the 1991 victorious USA Ryder Cup team in what’s since become known as ‘The War on the Shore’, who McIlroy first turned to after letting slip victory in the last year’s Masters.
Stockton said he spent less than 15 minutes working with McIlroy at the then Quail Hollow Championship and a month later McIlroy bounced back to capture the U.S. Open.
Dave Stockton declares McIlroy the 'oldest 23-year old he's ever met'. (Photo - Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ie)
However Stockton’s latest task has been to get McIlroy to hide his disappointment on course, and to stop dropping his shoulders.
“I worked with him last week at Firestone and he was very happy with his putting,” said Stockton.
“But then I want him to be really even keel so that you can’t tell whether he’s up or his down but he was much better at Firestone.
“He would get in trouble and then get himself out of it and it didn’t show.
“He’s good to work with but he’s still got a lot to learn.
“There is different things at present pulling him in different directions.”
It was brought to Stockton’s notice that McIlroy would drop his shoulders and so look despondent if things were not going his way.
“I drilled him on that last week saying ‘you can’t do that, you just cannot do that’,” said Stockton.
“Jack (Nicklaus) never did that. Tiger (Woods) never did that. And I don’t recollect Mickelson ever doing that, and showing it.
“But then Rory’s smart. Rory will pick up on that.
“He told his shoulders were dropped because he wasn’t playing well. I don’t him I don’t want to know that.”
I then asked Stockton if McIlroy’s talent continued to amaze him, considering how long Stockton has been in the game.
“Oh shit, yes! When I told him when we first met and Ronnie my son was with me, and we sat there, and it was his caddy J P who got us together at the Wells Fargo a few weeks after the Masters,” said Stockton.
“And he wanted to talk to him and I said ‘Rory, I don’t want any buts so let’s sit down and talk’. Then I told him flat out because he asked me what I thought of the Masters (2011).
“I told him I thought he had a terrible pairing. (Angel) Cabrera is a really nice guy but the problem is that he is as fast as you are, so therefore he was hitting his shots fast but then standing there and waiting for 10 minutes. Then you hit another fast shot and wait another 10 minutes. You can’t play golf like that.
“So, he’s looking at me and we’re talking for about 15 minutes and no more than 20 at the max. I said to him that I would like to see him hit some putt. I could then see J P rolling his eyes at the other end of the table.
“So we went outside in it took about 10 minutes to get a fix. Then we went all the way to the end of the practice pitching green and then that session didn’t take 10 minutes.
“Rory was so simple. Rory’s only problem is that he’s too fast. He steps up to the ball too quickly. He hasn’t given it that last look.
“So at Wentworth he looked good on the putting green and then I’m sitting in the TV tower at Congressional and he hits the 10th green the last day.
“So he goes down to the green and taps it in and off he goes. I’m proud of him but the next thing I see Rory is walking back up to the 10th green and I’m asking myself, ‘why?’
“The 11th is the hardest par four on the golf course but there’s obviously a wait. So he’s on the 10th green and watching what’s going on at 18 and just practicing his stroke but not hitting any balls and just looking around and enjoying the occasion.
“He spends like five minutes and then turns around and walks over to 11. I talked to him later and I said to him that was the coolest thing I ever saw.
“He’s the oldest 23-year old I’ve ever seen. He gets it and he knows what he’s doing.”
