Sky Sports has defended its frequent coverage of Rory McIlroy, despite his current struggle with form on the course.
Andrew Coltart and Laura Davies provided golf enthusiasts with coverage of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship over the weekend a tournament where McIlroy ended up T25 with an overall score of -4.
This year, McIlroy has only claimed victory in two PGA Tour competitions winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April alongside Shane Lowry and the Wells Fargo Championship in May.
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He started off his year with a DP Tour win at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January, but these three victories are a far cry from what McIlroy was accomplishing during his prime.
Given that he hasn’t won a major tournament in a decade now his last being the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla back in 2014 several fans have questioned why McIlroy still gets the amount of TV coverage he does.
However, Coltart and Davies argued that McIlroy still ‘moves the needle’ when it comes to viewership in 2024, pointing out how his following at the Old Course St Andrews on Sunday was significantly larger than the one following the intense competition between Tyrrell Hatton and Nicolas Colsaerts.
Coltart observed: “I can’t help but notice I’m watching all the crowd… if everybody wonders about who still moves the needle, Rory McIlroy is still on that other nine holes and he is out of this tournament and not in contention, and yet the whole crowd are following McIlroy instead of the unbelievably talented and potentially the winner for the third time in this event, Tyrrell Hatton. What does that say?”
Tyrrell Hatton won the tournament (
Getty Images)
On the flip side, Davies remarked: “Well it just says, you know we get criticized for going on about Rory McIlroy a bit too much, but this is just what people want to see. There is proof of it.”
After a gripping showdown at the Dunhill Links, Hatton swept past Colsaerts to snatch his third title with a -24, edging out the Belgian’s impressive -23. Both competitors approached the 18th hole neck-and-neck at -23, but Hatton, aged 32, aced an outstanding birdie while Colsaerts was resigned to par.
Meanwhile, McIlroy, despite delivering under-par performances across all four rounds, didn’t muster enough to challenge the frontrunners, culminating in a T25 finish squared with Harrington, MacIntyre, Jamieson, and a cohort of six. The Northern Irish golf sensation will set his sights on rebounding at the upcoming Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
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