Gary Player admits that he has been “perturbed” by some of the decisions that Rory McIlroy has made over the past few years, but he’s confident the world No. 3 will return to form soon and eventually become “the man.”
The 77-year-old Player told Britain’s TalkSport radio show that he began to question a few of McIlroy’s decisions dating to the 2011 U.S. Open, when he took a month off after his game-changing triumph. Player says he would have preferred to see McIlroy take a week off, then play two events.
“You’ve got to prepare properly,” Player said, according to the report. “He has a few problems at this stage of his life, but everyone has problems. He’ll sort it out. He’s got wonderful parents. He’s got great talent. He’ll come back.”
Player thinks that McIlroy’s love life has taken a priority in his life but that it was natural for golf to “take second place for a while.”
“But the thing is for a man like Rory with talent galore, he’s got to make sure he has a woman like I’ve got, who has been married for 56 years, that has only encouraged me to do well and made sacrifices,” Player told the radio show.
“He’s got to be intelligent and find the right wife. If he finds the right wife, if he practices and if he’s dedicated, he could be the man.”
