Exclusive:
Rory McIlroy will be targeting his fifth major and a third US PGA Championship this week but private matters away from the course may cause a distraction for him
Rory McIlroy enters the second major of the year with all the talk about him outside of the course.
The PGA Championship, of which he’s won twice before in 2012 and 2014 – including at Valhalla – tees off on Thursday. McIlroy comes into the major in fine form, winning both the Zurich Classic and Wells Fargo Championship in recent weeks.
But as he arrived at the venue on Tuesday, news quickly broke that McIlroy had in fact filed for divorce from wife of seven years, Erica Stoll. This was quickly confirmed in a brief statement by his communications team, who stated the Ulsterman would be making no further comment on the matter.
That rule was reiterated at his press conference when he sat down to speak to reporters on Thursday, sans wedding ring. As he declared himself ready to compete at a personal level, McIlroy’s tiredness shone through.
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Body language expect Judi James has taken a look at McIlroy’s answer as well as the rest of the press conference to identity some key body language tells.
“McIlroy does not turn the press question ‘On a personal level how are you doing?’ into his Meghan Markle moment,” James tells Mirror Sport. “Meghan might have gushed emotionally for this one but Rory goes into clampdown mode. Five body language gestures show he is stoking his levels of determination and resilience, despite his tired-looking appearance.
“His curt answer ‘I’m ready to play this week’ comes after a very emphatic hard breath in through his nostrils. He shakes his head and his shoulders as though shaking off any drama and his reply comes with a steady and challenging eye-gaze. He performs a mouth clamp to signal ‘subject closed’ and there are three nods to confirm he is ready.
“Throughout the rest of the interview though he looks more evasive at times, fiddling with the mic and looking down in an eye cut-off as he is introduced and scratching his face before questions about confidence. He says he has ‘A lot of confidence…’ but tempers the idea of momentum with ‘quite a bit…’ his shoulders list to the right. There is a verbal falter and repetition when he speaks about having confidence and his one shoulder shrug suggests he is attempting to make light of it.
“He is less assured when being asked about playing his way into form. He pauses with an eye cut-off gesture and sucks his lips in before forgetting the second part of the question.
“McIlroy does speak about ‘learning a lot by just playing’ and his intentional rituals suggest its out there on the course that his ability to be emotionally resilient might show. Telling the press ‘I feel good’ he performs a physical re-boot, squinting his eyes to suggest focus, shaking his head, squirming his shoulders and smacking his lips together.”