Tom Kim Snuck In A Press Conference Question For Rory McIlroy About Handling Life As A Golf Phenom And Rory's Response Was Perfect
From PGA Tour Media Transcript:
TOM KIM: Rory, I have a question for you. What's it like having so much success as a young player? Coming out and many years on tour, how do you manage all that?
RORY McILROY: I didn't have as much success as you're having at such a young age. Like I think when you start to have success at a young age, you're going to -- I think the biggest thing that I realized is managing your time. You're going to be pulled in so many different directions. You've got one, two, three, four, I can see five sponsors on you at this point, right? So it's just trying to manage your time to realize what got you to this position, right? Why are you a two-time PGA TOUR winner, why are you such a great player? And it's the time that you put into it and it's the practice, it's not losing sight of that. I think that's the thing. I was speaking here just before you came in that I've almost found it easier to get to No. 1 in the world than staying there. I think staying there is harder. I think you've got a bulls-eye on your back, you've got to work harder, everyone's coming after you. That's the one thing I would say is just managing your time and not forgetting why you're in this position and why you're so lucky to get to play with me the next two days.... [pause] And that was a joke that went over everyone's head.
What a beautiful, budding romance these two have brewing. Rory, the defending FedEx Cup champion and long-time defender of the Tour, and Tom Kim, by all accounts golf's next big thing after 2 quick wins and a Presidents Cup few will ever forget.
It's a great thing for the Tour. Amidst all this drama, you wanna see your guys in the same corner. Especially your non-US players given that so many other foreign players have taken the bag and moved along. The PGA Tour has always been dominated by American players, but their influence has only increased over the past couple of years. Rory was one of the first phenoms to follow Tiger Woods explosion into the golf world, but damn near every other one since has been American. Spieth, JT, Schauffele, Cantlay, Morikawa, and plenty of other big names have all burst on the scene in recent years, with the totality of their powers really arriving at last year's Ryder Cup. The outlook for the European and International teams already looked bleak, and LIV golf only made that grimmer.
That's why the valiant effort a few weeks ago by Tom Kim and his fellow internationals was so significant and it's a great sign to see these two being buddy buddy
The PGA Tour needs it's foreign superstars now more than ever. Tom Kim is going to go such a long way with that, provided he stays on this side of the fence. You gotta figure LIV is gonna try like hell, and a guy like Rory is going to be helpful to keep things that way.