Caddy JP Fitzgerald's shock treatment a critical jolt for Rory McIlroy

If ever you wanted to demonstrate to a young child just how quickly the fortunes in sport can turn around (once you have the right mindset), then all you have to do is look at how Rory McIlroy’s performance improved on Thursday and again yesterday, after the sharp rebuke from his caddy JP Fitzgerald, writes John McHenry.

“You’re Rory McIlroy! What the fuck are you doing?” It only took two short lines from Fitzgerald to jolt McIlroy out of his malaise but they were perhaps the most important words he has heard in all of his professional career.

McIlroy is a man used to very much controlling his own environment. In some people’s eyes, he is refreshingly honest, but his naivety at times (“I didn’t get into golf to try and grow the game”) has meant that he has also had to defend criticism, all of his own making.