Why Rory McIlroy Winning The Players Is A Symbolic Push For A United Ireland
Tee-To-Green, McIlroy’s big win nets loads of green on St. Patrick’s Day.
Winning alone won’t unite the island. But being afraid of loosing just might. Loosing the opportunity to prosper and live with increased mobility under the European Union, that is. Looming large in Rory’s ancestral homeland (he currently resides in south Florida) is England’s current bungling with its Brexit affair. McIlroy’s family hails from Northern Ireland (N.I.), which is a part of the United Kingdom, which is feebly crawling to the finish line in finalizing this ordeal. It might not even make it to the finish line (March 29th) with a deal to separate from the EU, thus forcing a ‘hard-close’ of sorts on the British.
No one knows what a ‘no-deal Brexit’ (last political term, I promise) will look like but it won’t be good. There’s a silver lining, however, for countries like Scotland and Northern Ireland: they don’t have to partake. The polls in those nations showed support to stay in the EU back in 2016. And now with the Brexit deadline nearing, there’s a massive opportunity for these nations to negotiate back into the EU. Or negotiate some in-between deal where they mix and match benefits of the EU and UK for themselves.
But alas, political ineptitude to do any real good or meaningful change, something Americans can relate to, has foreseeably nixed this option. Ineptitude in Belfast and in Westminster is usually good for a laugh, but it has real human consequences this time. A deeper silver lining, though, is that political opinions and movements can be swayed by influential voices. And there may be no greater celebrity on the Emerald Isle than that golfer from the North, who just won big time on Saint Patrick’s Day.
Can winning the largest golf tournament payday (a slick $2.25M) overseas remind UK-ers of the value of open economic borders? Certainly. Did a leprechaun morph the warm Florida sunshine to imitate chilly Irish breezes to the benefit St Patrick’s kin and make this essay possible? Most definitely. Should Rory McIlroy openly throw his weight around to try and influence the N.I. politicians to work a favorable outcome for their corner of the UK? Symbolically, I believe he already has. Even if only playing the part of himself in the theatre that was the final round of The Players Championship.
So, a little bit of history first. Shortly after the Brexit vote in the summer of 2016, McIlroy himself emotionally stated,
“If I'm Northern Irish, what's better? To be part of the UK and not be in the EU? Or to be in a united Ireland and still belong to the EU? People are going to have to weigh that up. People are wanting to protect their own, to close their borders. The world would be a much more prosperous place if everyone was able to get along.”
To be fair, he said more on the topic but I plucked these sentences for they sum up the essence of his wordy sentiment. And also to be fair, there is no smooth way out for Northern Ireland. Conflict, dissent, and contentiousness have plagued this province since the 17th Century, when the kingdom granted plantations in Ulster began. (I know it goes farther back than that, but the ‘modern’ N.I. plight begins right around then.) New York Times writer Timothy Egan quips,
“As always, the most vexing of Britain’s old colonial possessions is the one closest to Westminster.”
But there is no greater opportunity than now to put the past behind.
Back to The Players on Sunday. The leading group entering the final round were Englishman Tommy Fleetwood and Spaniard John Rahm. They couldn’t hold up to the final day pressure and posted scores of +1 and +4, respectively, for the day. Not exactly Sunday’s finest, as they fell from their perch at the top.
Another Englishman, Eddie Pepperell, made a bold run, carding a 66 to vault up the leaderboard. And local old-man, Jim Furyk, grinded out a great run to put all the kids on blast. No other round said, “Get off my lawn” like Furyk’s Sunday, as his 5-under 67 put the 48-year-old on top of the leaderboard and saw him pushing for his first win in 3 years. All valiant efforts, but the chilly, tough conditions proved ideal for McIlroy as he blasted long drive after long drive to shoot a 2-under 70, besting Furyk by one stroke.
McIlroy was quite understated after the fact he just won the largest single tournament purse in golf history. He appeared to treat it like any other Sunday, which is a testament to his inner-work he’s put in to not base his identity on golfing results. He says he’s worked really hard to not let his scores affect his mood or who he feels he is as a person. In his young career, he’s proved as a person he’s not one to shy away from giving thoughts on worldly matters, as most Irish do, even if it’s incomprehensible slang.
Sunday afternoon in Ponte Vedra Beach, the worlds of sports and bad-politics overlapped in an unassuming form of a prodigious North Irish golfer. I do believe without saying a word (or even a happy jig for $2.25M!) Rory McIlroy showcased a newer version of himself, where the process of becoming a better person is more important than the results. When the process is wholeheartedly planned and executed, the positive results appear. Your outside world starts from your inside world.
Perhaps the rest of countryfolk in Northern Ireland took notice and asked themselves the hard questions of where their identities’ lie, and what process can they take to fulfill what they feel in our hearts. Just as tough conditions and Ulster-like weather set the stage for Rory’s process to produce a very positive result, Northern Ireland (and Scotland too) is in position to begin their process on a newer version of themselves. One more in alignment with their hearts.
I do wonder, in time, will Rors become more vocal and use his stature to influence and make positive change in his world? I think that’s something that comes with age and being more knowledgeable about the world and more convicted in your values. Let me make clear, there’s no admonishment at all that he doesn’t right now, as even those closest to the Brexit quagmire aren’t entirely sure what to do. But staying the course is a bad option, and there’s such a tremendous chance to sew the seeds for a brighter united Ireland now more than ever.
So for now, McIlroy just leads by the classic athletic-understated example, showing the world that working on yourself and working hard produces positive results. I just hope the next young Scot or Northern Irishman will have the same opportunity in a less-tumultuous version of (what is currently) the UK.