As Rory McIlroy triumphantly trod the fairways and greens of The Congressional CC where the US Open was palyed last week, chants of\u00a0 ‘Lets go, Rory. Let’s go Rory’\u00a0 resounded throughout the course.\u00a0 This spontaneous outbreak\u00a0started me thinking about fame and celebrity. Not to diminish Charl Schwarztel’s victory at this year’s \u00a0Masters and Louis Oosthuizen’s \u00a0British Open triumph last year,\u00a0 but, I’m fairly certain no one in those crowds were\u00a0chanting ‘Let’s Go Charl’ or ‘Let’s Go Louis’.\u00a0 So what was it about young Mr. McIlroy that so ignited the crowd?<\/p>\n
We could start with Rory being the sentimental favorite after his Master’s back-nine meltdown this year,\u00a0 but, I’m sure others have suffered such indignation and have rebounded nicely with very little fanfare.\u00a0 No, I think it is more than sentiment.\u00a0 Maybe it is his puck-ish good looks and aw-shucks appeal, but, others fit this discription and they were never hoisted to the top of the pedestal.\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe it’s the combination of his nice-guy demeanor and incredible talent, but, again, others have been blessed with these attributes without finding themselves being sereneded by the masses.\u00a0 So, while I think all of these things contributed to the adulation he received from the crowd, I believe it is something more than meets the eye.<\/p>\n
The last golfer (and maybe sports star) to achieve such praise was Tiger Woods and while Rory seems like the antithesis of Tiger Woods, they probably have more in common than most would think.\u00a0 While Tiger is passion personified and Rory seems like the kid brother of Cool Hand Luke, I believe they both possess the drive (and the ability) to be the best at what they do.\u00a0\u00a0Being so\u00a0young when they exploded on the golfing scene with performances that almost defied discription,\u00a0they epitomized\u00a0potential and hope in a time and place where all of that seems to be sorely lacking.\u00a0 It would seem appropriate to call them modern day heroes; a commodity that is always in short supply.<\/p>\n
Yet, in the end, we are still not able to pick out the famous from the also-rans.\u00a0 As we have learned from American Idol and other such non-sensical shows, fame cannot be bestowed on someone.\u00a0 Fame is the silent stalker that enters someone’s life in the dead of night and annoits them the ‘chosen one’.\u00a0 That person can be a sport’s figure, a movie star or a politician, but, fame is never theirs for the asking; it is their’s for the taking.<\/p>\n
Will Rory keep ascending to the heights that those in golfing have already assigned him?\u00a0 Only time will tell.\u00a0 But, if he does, I believe in the years to come, he will easily supplant Tiger in the upper most eschelons of the golf world.<\/p>\n
So, for now, all I can say is, ‘Let’s Go Rory!’.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As Rory McIlroy triumphantly trod the fairways and greens of The Congressional CC where the US Open was palyed last week, chants of\u00a0 ‘Lets go, Rory. Let’s go Rory’\u00a0 resounded throughout the course.\u00a0 This spontaneous outbreak\u00a0started me thinking about fame and celebrity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ricos-rants"],"yoast_head":"\n