Rory McIlroy fires back at Butch Harmon's "robotic" criticism
McIlroy responds to Harmon's comments during Sky Sports broadcast during The Open.
Rory McIlroy has fired back at swing coach Butch Harmon's "robotic" comment during Sky Sports Golf's round one broadcast of the Open Championship at Carnoustie.
McIlroy, who has moved into contention for a second Claret Jug heading into The Open this weekend, explained he took offense to comments made by Tiger Woods' former swing coach on Thursday.
Harmon said: “Rory had this spell when he wasn’t putting good and hitting the ball good, and he got so wrapped up in how he was going to do it he forgot how to do it.
“He is one of the best players the game has ever seen. If he would just go back to being a kid and playing the way he won these championships and play your game, don’t have any fear or robotic thoughts. Just play golf. Just go do it.
“This is a young kid who’s still one of the best players in the world. He needs to understand that. Forget about your brand and your endorsement contracts. Forget about all that. Just go back to having fun playing golf. I still think he is one of the best in the world and can be No.1 again if he just lets himself do it.”
McIlroy, who has never worked with Harmon, responded: “Look, I like Butch. Definitely, I would say I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum than someone that's mechanical and someone that's – you know, it's easy to make comments when you don't know what's happening.
“I haven't spoken to Butch in a long time. He doesn't know what I'm working on in my swing. He doesn't know what's in my head. So it's easy to make comments and easy to speculate. But unless you actually know what's happening, I just really don't take any notice of it.”
McIlroy opened with a 2-under 70 and is progressing nicely up the board as things stand on day two.
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