Rory McIlroy has revealed the ground rules he made clear to Netflix producers before signing up to the golf documentary Full Swing.
Rory McIlroy needed some convincing to take part in the Netflix documentary Full Swing.
The four-time major champion had initially planned to watch the first season and then take it from there.
But after the emergence of the LIV Golf League, the Ulsterman, 33, was persuaded by the shows exec producer Chad Mumm that he needed to be involved.
That was after a year like no other in professional golf in which McIlroy took centre stage as the chief critic of LIV Golf.
McIlroy duked it out with Greg Norman. The PGA Tour panicked and started throwing more money at their stars. Madness.
Mumm recently told Mirror Sport that producers met with McIlroy several times and were told he wanted to focus on playing golf.
Then finally, McIlroy was in.
“We told him we needed his voice, there was no guarantee we could do this again and if he waits, people won’t hear from him until 2024 at the earliest and now is the time,” Mumm told the publication.
That being said, McIlroy had some ground rules.
Erica Stoll was a no go. Nor were they allowed to film his parents Rosie and Gerry. His daughter Poppy was also off-limits.
And he wasn’t going to let the cameras inside his car.
McIlroy explained:
“Yeah, I sort of took the attitude of see how the first season works out, see if I like it, like the idea, feel comfortable letting cameras get into my life a little bit more. But I had a good chat with Chad in the summertime.
“Obviously with everything that’s going on in the world of golf, he just said having my voice in there in some way could just add a layer of context that wasn’t there already.”
He continued:
“I made sure that the parameters were very much like, look, you can film me at — you’re not coming to my house, you’re not coming in my car, you’re not coming anywhere near my family, but you want to do some stuff with me at golf tournaments, totally fine. They were the ground rules that were sort of set, and here we are.”
McIlroy also added another impressive shot to his highlight reel at the PGA Tour’s Waste Management Phoenix Open.
McIlroy explained that he hit a pitching wedge at the first full-field elevated event.
He said:
“It looked like I didn’t have a backswing, but I didn’t realize the angle, like how far right the green actually was.
“So I got over it, I was like, okay, I needed to take it a little bit more on the inside than I usually would and sort of just toe it in a little bit, but I sort of got lucky because the wind was hard off the left and I needed to hit that hard draw against the wind, and it was the only way to stop it on — that green I feel like is the firmest green on the course, so it was the only way to stop it.
“I got lucky with the tee shot that I had a swing, but I hit a great shot and was delighted to walk away with a par.”
Rory McIlroy had an ominous warning to his rivals ahead of the PGA Tour’s Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Asked whether he believes he is currently the best player in the world, McIlroy said: “Yes”.
The 33-year-old Ulsterman is ranked the World No.1 but after the emergence of LIV Golf and the updates to the OWGR system there has been constant debate about points, strengths of fields and more.
Jon Rahm – who apologised to his wife Kelley Cahill after this TMI joke – reckons he’s been the best player since last August.
He has a strong claim to the throne given that he’s won four times in eight stars.
Rahm and McIlroy had polar opposite views of the system when they spoke before the DP World Tour Championship.
It got to the point where Rahm finally conceded that he was “past caring” about it all during the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
Why does McIlroy believe he is the best?
He bullishly said:
“Because I do. I’m playing well. I feel like consistency-wise, I’ve been as good as I have been ever in my career.
“I said at the end of last year, I feel like as complete of a player as I ever have. If you just look at my statistical categories, there’s no real glaring weaknesses there. I’ve worked really hard on that, to try to become a more well-rounded player.
“I think the results speak for themselves, as well, over not just the past six months but really the past 18 months post-Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, I feel like I’ve been on a really good run of form since then.”
McIlroy is playing the first two rounds of the elevated event at TPC Scottsdale alongside Hideki Matsuyama and Collin Morikawa.
“TaylorMade are giving me more flexibility”
McIlroy was spotted testing Titleist Vokey wedges before teeing it up in Dubai.
He has also opted not to upgrade to the Stealth 2 Plus Driver yet.
Asked about this, McIlroy said TaylorMade are giving him more options with some of the clubs he can use.
He said:
“Yeah, so this is my first year of my new deal with TaylorMade, and they gave me just a little bit of flexibility with some of the clubs that I can play.
“Yeah, so that was really it. I was messing around with Justin — I see Justin Thomas all the time at home and messing around with some of his wedges and some of the grinds he has.
“I got in touch and ordered a couple, and they’ve worked really nicely.
“This week, as well, I feel by going back to that 760 long iron in the 3- and the 4-iron, just to give me a bit more extra flight into the par-5s — I feel like sometimes with the 3- and the 4-iron in the blades they can come in a little flat at times, where the par-5 and the second shots into the par-5s specifically this week are very, very important, so I thought having a little bit more flight on those long irons could be helpful.”
source; golfmagic
