Rory McIlroy walks off course at the Honda Classic

[preisman]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

Thanks.

Also, Rory just tweeted the following:

"Thanks to all at the Honda.  A tough day was made impossible by severe tooth pain.  Tried desperately to defend but couldn't play on.  Gutted."

RRRrrelease the Cynics!!!

Gutted? Or gutless

[colin007]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

If he had said immediately that he was quitting because of a toothache,

this.  if i was rory, i would have told the others in my group about it when i walked off, too.  maybe hes not that bright?  if youre gonna quit at least have a story ready before you "accidentally" tell the truth about your mental state.

[ScouseJohnny]

Quote:

A lot of people have had this level of tooth pain before.  I did once before needing an emergency root canal, and I could barely watch TV without wincing, let alone do any activity.  If he was having this level of pain, I imagine it would have shown itself on the course, no?

True enough.

I recall living on soup and quiche when my wisdom teeth were acting up.

Doesn't help his cause that the Daily Mail published a picture of him chomping on a sandwich earlier in his round. Still, given it's the Daily Mail that sandwich should probably be taken with a fairly huge grain of salt.

[tuffluck]

i would have thought the tooth started to hurt relatively bad before he started his round though.  had it been me, i would have had someone give me some ice for a hole or two.  that way at least if i did withdraw it didn't obviously later look like an excuse, rather, a well thought out one.

[Ernest Jones]

Originally Posted by colin007

this.  if i was rory, i would have told the others in my group about it when i walked off, too.  maybe hes not that bright?  if youre gonna quit at least have a story ready before you "accidentally" tell the truth about your mental state.

"hey, Ernie, listen man, my tooth is killing me. I gotta jet. Can you turn in my score card when you guys finish up? Also, I think I mighta left a wedge back on the 10th, can you check at the clubhouse?"

Sounds better than, "I suck today, I'm going home."

[RonTheSavage]

Nobody had any 800mg Ibuprofen? Right before I had my widom teeth pulled, Ibuporfen worked like a charm for a week until I could get an appt.

[jamo]

Nobody had any 800mg Ibuprofen? Right before I had my widom teeth pulled, Ibuporfen worked like a charm for a week until I could get an appt.

That GC quote said he took Advil ibuprofen which I believe comes in 200mg capsules. He could have taken a bunch.

[MJK3122]

It's bad form in my eyes.  Would Rory WD if he was leading? A couple shots back?  I think not.  You also don't tell reporters you are fine only to release a statement or tweet saying that you have serious pain (tooth, ankle, arm, ect.) a short while later.

He hasn't played anywhere near his normal form this year and I was one that thought this may happen with the total switch to the Nike equipment.  Even the best players have favorite clubs that they play for a while before even thinking of switching them out for newer ones.  For a player of Rory's caliber all the way down to the weekend warrior hoping to break 100, it's hard to switch 14 clubs and your golf ball up in one shot and just expect to play as if nothing has changed.  Rory is a great talent and will rebound probably very quickly but this antic IMO has put a blemish on his resume.  He only had to play out 10 holes and he could have went home anyway.

Like somebody else already stated about Camilo.  I'm sure he wanted off the course as well but stuck it out like a gentleman.

[lumpuckeroo]

I'm not going to pile on, but I don't understand why, if you have been having issues, would you not have had it taken care of during the off season.  Seems like an excuse, but I don't know all the details around the dental issue.  I notice this a lot in other sports, a basketball player has knee surgery the week before the season starts when they were just off for 3 months, doesn't make sense to me.

[Deryck Griffith]

If it looks like a duck, sounds like one or walks like one, you better believe it's a duck.  Substitute the duck with BS, and that's my opinion on the matter.  He didn't want to post a bad score.  That's what it is plain and simple.  I said it before and I'll say it again, he hasn't been working hard and this is a wake up call.

Imagine this was a team sport and Rors showed up for the season this unprepared.  The coach/manager would tear him a new hole.

When the dust settles, he'll be fine.  But it's VERY disappointing to see the best player in the world slack off for 3 months (look at his Twitter) and then expect to just show up and be in good form.

[RonTheSavage]

Yeah the 200mgs are a waste of time LOL. Next time throw back like four.

[Elrey Desol]

you'd think that for $200 million dollars, he'd have access to a dentist 24/7.

toothache is bullshit. the guy flat out quit due to poor play and embarrassed himself, the tournament, the Tour, and his sponsors in the process.

boooooo.

[newtogolf]

Most people that have toothaches and know they need a tooth pulled have visited a dentist and have a prescription pain killer that can help ease the pain.  It's not like he broke a tooth, his statement leads me to believe this has been a problem for a while.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by topspin4hand

i read the tweet mentioning his bad tooth.  The funny thing is that the immediately preceding tweet from last night mentions how he was enjoying his dinner.  Maybe he was eating on one side.

Originally Posted by newtogolf

Most people that have toothaches and know they need a tooth pulled have visited a dentist and have a prescription pain killer that can help ease the pain.  It's not like he broke a tooth, his statement leads me to believe this has been a problem for a while.

I think somebody nailed it earlier when they said we'll find out how valid this is next week.  Playing devil's advocate and ignoring the fact (?) that he initially said nothing was wrong with him, if it's true that he was in so much pain that he had to quit, he wouldn't be able to play next week without getting the tooth pulled, right?

If I was his PR guy, I'd almost be inclined to schedule for his wisdom teeth to be pulled whether he needed to or not, just to save face.

[dave s]

Link to story indicating the wisdom tooth issue:  http://espn.go.com/golf/story/_/id/9002255/honda-classic-rory-mcilroy-walks-course-ninth-hole-7-par

dave

[tuffluck]

Originally Posted by Elrey Desol

you'd think that for $200 million dollars, he'd have access to a dentist 24/7.

toothache is bullshit. the guy flat out quit due to poor play and embarrassed himself, the tournament, the Tour, and his sponsors in the process.

boooooo.

i kind of find it entertaining.  it's definitely more interesting than had he just posted a 77 for the day after 18 holes.  and i don't see it as an embarrassment across the board, especially the Tour..if anything it's some free marketing.  it was on the cover of yahoo's homepage all day (and probably others), when normally it takes a hot Swede with a 9 iron or the Monday after a major for golf to make the front page.

[123Putt]

No one posted this yet, so I thought I might as well.

I don't think his tooth is so sore, as has been mentioned he didn't say anything about it until after he left.

[stealthduffer]

Coincidentally I had just read about Bobby Jones in his first Open Championship (The Grand Slam by Mark Frost).  During that tournament he "picked up" as well.  Something that he said was one of his life's great regrets.  Hope that Rory truly does have a health issue or he may find the regret to be greater than the humiliation of a bad score.