How a 100mph cop car helped save Rory McIlroyâ€s Miracle at Medinah | Rory McIlroy

Has it really been 13 years since rosy-cheeked Rory McIlroy caused teammates, coaches, and a continentâ€s worth of fans to hyperventilate by coming within a hairsbreadth of missing his tee time for a crucial singles match?

The scene at the 2012 Ryder Cup, recall, looked like something out of The Blues Brothers, except there werenâ€t any nuns or Nazis around. Having barreled down Illinois highways at upwards of 100mph, its siren blaring, an unmarked cop car came screeching into the parking lot of the Medinah Golf Club, skirted the camera crews huddled to record McIlroyâ€s frenzied arrival, and deposited him just steps away from the locker room.

McIlroy at that instant had all of nine minutes to grab something to eat, “warm up,†and get to the first tee for his match against Keegan Bradley, otherwise heâ€d be forced to forfeit. Since his team was trailing 10-6 going into Sunday singles, a McIlroy no-show would have ruined one of the most storied comebacks in Cup history, the Europeans†“Miracle at Medinah.â€

Today, itâ€s hard to imagine the Northern Irishman, who has seized the mantle of the late Seve Ballesteros as Team Europeâ€s unflagging leader, being so slipshod about the Ryder Cup. But in September 2012, McIlroy was a tender 23, the worldâ€s newly crowned No 1, and the winner that summer of two legs of the FedEx Cup, not to mention the PGA Championship, his second career major. To the young McIlroy, the staid old Ryder Cup must have seemed like weak tea.

That tea has gotten much stronger for a player who just won the Irish Open in spectacular fashion. At the 2023 Cup in Rome, McIlroy had to be restrained after a US caddie interfered with his putting preparation on day two.

At this weekâ€s Cup, which starts on Friday at Bethpage Black outside New York City, McIlroy and his mates will be trying to become the first team to win on foreign soil since the Medinah crew pulled off their miracle. McIlroy has added fuel to the fire by claiming that winning a Ryder Cup on hostile turf is the hardest thing to do in sports. His hyperbole will only make New York fans chant “USA!! USA!!†that much louder.

What caused McIlroy to be so tardy back in 2012? Well, he said he confused Central and Eastern Time that morning as he began a lengthy Facetime session with his then-girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki. His conspicuous absence was noticed by two PGA of America officials, one of whom, Erica Stoll, would five years later become his wife. The pair arranged for a local police officer to provide McIlroy with an emergency ride. Only their quick thinking and the “Ryder Copâ€s†lead foot kept McIlroy from a lifetime of humiliation.

To tease McIlroy, US fans began chanting “Cen-tral Time Zone! (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap!) and “Whatâ€s Your Tee Time?â€

“It was funny for the first two holes,†McIlroy said later, “and after that I just wanted to shut them up.†Fans also loudly inquired about the severity of McIlroyâ€s “hangover,†as well as bellowing, “Was She Worth It?!†with more handclaps thrown in for good measure.

Itâ€s testament to McIlroyâ€s self-belief that he never let Bradley get ahead of him. The matchâ€s most amusing moment came on the short par-four 15th hole. Led by captain Jose-Maria Olazábal, the brain trust of the European team gathered behind Rory on the tee box. It pained McIlroy to lay up on a drive-able par four, but with a one-up lead and his coaches (plus an entire continent) breathing down his neck, he smartly hit a four-iron into the left-center of the fairway.

Captain Olazábal got into McIlroyâ€s grill and sarcastically “congratulated†him for his judicious tee shot. McIlroy responded by taking off his golf glove and playfully tapping his captainâ€s nose. Everyone on the tee box, Olazábal included, had a good chuckle. McIlroyâ€s subsequent birdie all but clinched the match.

McIlroyâ€s win was part of the Euros†clean sweep of the first five singles contests, catapulting them to victory. McIlroy not only became a champagne-drenched hero that day, he (eventually) ended up getting the girl.

More than anything, his near mess-up at Medinah is the thing that made McIlroy desperate to be a Ryder Cup warrior in the mold of Ballesteros.

What would have happened if Stoll and company hadnâ€t been so conscientious and saved his bacon? We donâ€t know exactly, but it probably would not have been pretty.

This much is certain: todayâ€s Rory McIlroy, the guy hellbent on kicking butt in Ryder Cups, would not abide for one millisecond any slaphappy behavior from a young teammate.

• Timothy M Gay, an American writer and historian, is the author Rory Land: The Up-and-Down World of Golfâ€s Global Icon, now available from Regalo Press/Simon & Schuster-UK.

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