Rory McIlroy’s blistered toe might be the focus at the PGA Championship, but the Masters champ has his feet underneath him
By Dana O’Neil, CNN
Newtown Square, Pennsylvania (CNN) — Not since the littlest piggy cried “wee, wee, wee all the way home” will a pinky toe face so much scrutiny.
Less than 48 hours before his assigned tee time to start the PGA Championship, Rory McIlroy stood on the side of the fairway at No. 4, his right foot bare. This was not an Edward Lewis in “Pretty Woman” getting familiar with the grass moment. This was McIlroy, bothered by the same blister that plagued him through last week’s Truist Championship. After three practice holes, McIlroy finally cried “uncle,” hitching a ride on the back of a golf cart and exiting the course.
Cue up the blister experts (presumably they exist) and the sock puppets arguing over which foot coverings are best. It’s time to discuss the benefits of Vaseline and moleskin to reduce friction and hit up the local CVS for blister bandages. In the next 48 hours, we will discuss toes more than a pedicurist.
Because this is not anyone. This is Rory McIlroy, the Pied Piper of golf. He is the world’s No. 2 player (behind Scottie Scheffler) but No. 1 on the popularity charts. Plenty of folks – especially Scheffler – attracted a crowd at Aronimink Golf Club on Tuesday, but none matched McIlroy.
As two patrons walked clear across the other side of the course while McIlroy practiced, one said to the other, “Where’s everyone going?” To which his buddy replied, “To watch Rory. Where else?”
Golf offers a unique dichotomy as a spectator sporting event. It is at once entirely elitist, this week appropriately plopped on the Main Line made famous by the movie, “The Philadelphia Story,” a misnomer of a movie title if ever there was one. It’s both geographically inaccurate – the Main Line is not, in fact, within the city boundaries – and aesthetically hilarious. The Main Line has about as much in common with Philly as Katharine Hepburn has with Gritty.
The sport is all popped collars and Vineyard Vines. It feels more Grove at Ole Miss than frat party in State College. Fans feeling the vapors here can loll about in actual lounge chairs while sipping their cocktails and viewing play on a big screen.
Yet for those who can afford to buy a ticket, golf is weirdly accessible. You cannot, for example, lean over the on-deck circle to watch Aaron Judge prep for an at bat, nor can you poke an eye through a gated NFL practice facility. Yet the very-not-everyman golfers are always within an arm’s length, milling about the grounds like weekend duffers.
When Scheffler finished his practice round on Tuesday afternoon, he was surrounded by autograph seekers screeching his name. One tried to get an edge. “I want to high school with your brother,” he yelled.
Scheffler has three sisters.
The roar around McIlroy
But the star of the day was McIlroy. In the last two months, he has won his second consecutive Masters, attended a state dinner at the White House with King Charles III and Queen Camilla and made a cameo in “Devil Wears Prada 2.” He started Tuesday bright and early with a news conference, strolling casually from the clubhouse to the interview tent in shorts and a tan sweatshirt. His hair was not quite bedhead messy, but not necessarily camera-ready smooth either.
He answered some questions about the course, about being Rory, about his preparation, competition calendar and LIV’s fate.
Finally, around 2:00 p.m., he hit the course. During his abbreviated practice round, fans stood four to five deep to watch. At the green on the second hole, kids asked where he was, as if he was Santa Claus with a golf bag, and when he finally appeared over the horizon of the fairway one yelled giddily, “I see him,’’ as if a greatest apparition had appeared.
As McIlroy putted and chipped around the green, nearly every patron stood with their phones at the ready, cameras poised for pictures, as he walked through the small pass between the holes. They screeched for autographs. McIlroy passed through without signing.
“We tried,’’ one mom said to console her son.
One determined boy, maybe four or five, held a piece of green construction paper with a message scrawled on the front. He held the sign aloft just off the tee box at three. “My name is Rory, too. Welcome to Philly,’’ it read.
His dad urged him to keep the sign up and perhaps yell toward McIlroy, which he did. At one point, it seemed as if he even caught the golfer’s eye, but alas, McIlroy sent his drive and started walking.
“Don’t worry,’’ the father said. “We can get him on the next one, maybe,’’ as the two trailed after McIlroy toward the green.
It has always been this way for McIlroy, if not since the moment he turned pro in 2007, certainly since 2014, when he won both the British Open and the PGA. It was then that Jack Nicklaus declared he expected McIlroy to win “15 or 20 majors or whatever he wants to do if he wants to keep playing.’’
He kept playing, and kept winning, growing up in the public eye along the way. His curly hair has more salt mixed in with the pepper these days, and at 37, McIlroy is as much a spokesman for the sport as anyone.
‘Nice clear road ahead’
Longevity certainly helps popularity. Success, too. People like winners. But they also like them with a side of humility. McIlroy, with his charming Irish lilt and very blue-collar backstory, was tailor-made for the gig but he’s been humbled by golf plenty, too.
A year ago, when he finally broke through and won the Masters, his very real catharsis was what people identified with. Most folks won’t win a golf major, but many know what it’s like to finally reach a seemingly impossible goal.
Yet after mastering the Masters, McIlroy learned an invaluable lesson: his career wasn’t over. There was still more to do. The condensed schedule – the PGA Championship moved from August to May in 2019 – didn’t allow him enough time last year to get over his Masters’ hangover and he arrived at Quail Hollow still a little in the clouds. He finished 47th.
“I conquered this thing I wanted to conquer for so long,’’ he said. “I still hadn’t really reset goals or found whatever that motivation was to keep going or go forward and set myself goals for the rest of my career. It probably took me a good few months to get to this point.’’
Post-Masters this year, McIlroy did not deny himself the opportunity to enjoy it. He skipped the Tour event at Trump National in Miami two weeks ago to break bread with the King and Queen at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
“Sometimes you have to enjoy the perks because I know this isn’t going to last forever,’’ he said.
But he also learned from experience. He arrived here – presumably via a blue BMW – a little differently.
Back in 2011, he said Nicklaus – when you’re McIlroy, you get to name drop— suggested making time to take a round at an unfamiliar course. McIlroy that year went and played Congressional and won the US Open.
He’d only played four competitive rounds at Aronimink, so a few weeks ago he made a little sneak visit. McIlroy hopped a plane and drove over, spending maybe five hours on the course before leaving. It got his head around it a little bit, boosting both his readiness and confidence.
“Coming into this tournament feels a lot differently than what it did last year,’’ he said. “I feel like I’ve got some nice clear road ahead to try to get some more of these majors.’’
Now he just needs to clear up his little piggy and get the darned thing to market.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
