McIlroy’s stock will rise despite difficult season

Burnout symptoms cannot hide unquestionable talent

Rory McIlroy still has plenty of promise and should not be written off after a single down year. Pawan Singh / The National

The email was something of a surprise. A buddy at the Golf Channel in the United States wanted to know my impressions of how Rory McIlroy had played during the DP World Tour Championship a few days earlier.

In short, if shares of McIlroy stock were made available for public purchase, would I be buying or selling?

Unsettling season, but an easy answer. Empty the wallet, because we are going all-in.

McIlroy still has two more chances to win in 2013, a year that has produced zero victories. After a 2012 season in which he soared to world No 1 and became the first player to claim four victories in a season with Tiger Woods in the field, he tanked.

It was spectacular theatre, too. He changed clubs, ditched his management team and surrounded himself with lawyers. By mid-season, he was an admitted burnout victim who was second-guessing himself. Doubt had become part of the equation.

But there is no question about the talent. With starts remaining this week in Australia and next month in Los Angeles, McIlroy can still salvage something, as another former world No 1, Luke Donald, did by winning last weekend in Japan, recording his first victory of 2013.

Finally emerging from a season-long coma, McIlroy has finished sixth or better in three of his past four starts, including a joint-fifth in Dubai.

“It’s been a very transitional year,” McIlroy said.

For a blue-chip stock like Rory Inc, that is about to change.