[PHOTO: Jared C. Tilton]
We don’t know if Rory McIlroy regularly tunes in to “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on the ABC network in the US. But if he was happening to watch the program last Sunday, he would have seen himself become the target of truly out-of-nowhere swipe.
Never mind that the 124th US Open happened four months ago. It was still recent enough for Reince Priebus, a former White House chief of staff under Donald Trump and also a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, to work McIlroy’s botched finish at the major into the discussion.
The context: Priebus was talking about US vice-president Kamala Harris, Trump’s opponent in the upcoming presidential election, and suggested she had struggled during an appearance on another ABC program, “The View.” To illustrate his point, Priebus brought Rory into the mix.
“She wanted to clarify the two most important issues that are facing these two candidates, the economy and immigration,” Priebus said, “and she bombed like Rory at the US Open.”
Wow?!? A little random, no?
There’s a moment there when it seems like Priebus is trying to find the right analogy. Unfortunately for McIlroy, the ABC political analyst went to Pinehurst No.2. Priebus is far from the first to sledge McIlroy for his “brutal week”, although we’re wondering where the statue of limitations falls on Rory/Pinehurst digs.
The rest of the year post-US Open didn’t go much better for the Northern Irishman, at least when it came to the win column. McIlroy three-putted the 71st hole at the Irish Open to lose by one stroke in September. And then, the next week, McIlroy lost the BMW PGA Championship to a Billy Horschel playoff eagle.
It’s become a meme of sorts after Pinehurst to call McIlroy a “choker”, and we’re certain that McIlroy wants to put this year behind him and prove Priebus (and everyone else throwing him under the bus) wrong. To be fair, McIlroy did win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Shane Lowry and the Wells Fargo Championship in April and May, respectively. But it’s the majors that stick around. At least for Reince Priebus…
