• US PGA Championship, Round One

McIlroy must find new caddie to save him from himself

Rory McIlroy was made to regret an impetuous shot choice at the third © Getty Images

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• Profile: Rory McIlroy | Tiger Woods

It would have been foolish to expect anything other than a dramatic opening round in the US PGA Championship for Rory McIlroy, considering everything that has happened for him this year in the majors.

First there was The Masters, where he led for three days before collapsing under the strain of it all on Sunday afternoon. Then there was the US Open, where he led for three days before sprinting even further away from the field to claim a breathtaking victory on Sunday afternoon.

Then there was the Open Championship, where he came in as both the crowd and media favourite but succeeded only in struggling for the first three days before compatriot Darren Clarke conveniently distracted from some curious comments about the type of golf he prefers with his win on Sunday afternoon.

Considering all that, it was almost inevitable McIlroy would create a stir come Thursday afternoon at Atlanta Country Club - although perhaps no one could have foreseen how the Northern Irishman would come to ensure even Tiger Woods' bumbling round of 77 was temporarily overshadowed.

Coming to the third after a solid start, McIlroy pulled his tee-shot left into the trees. There he was unlucky enough to see his ball had taken position behind the protruding root of a tree (clearly visible on television, even if there were reports it could not be seen so clearly from closer range).

Instead of chipping out sideways, as some would surely have done, McIlroy took it upon himself to try and hit a standard recovery with a short iron. For his trouble, both ball and club ricocheted off the root and scattered in different directions. McIlroy's right wrist, meanwhile, took a "stinger" - a sharp jolt of pain as vibrations from the club surged up his arm.

It was an injury that caused frequent pain and required extensive treatment - ice-packs, physio examinations, eventually heavy strapping - for the rest of the round. The 22-year-old finished off and went straight for an MRI, the results of which could force him to withdraw from the event.

That almost makes his eventual round of level-par 70 meaningless (even if, in the circumstances, it was deeply impressive). He could have been healthy if only he, or his caddie JP Fitzgerald, had decided caution was the better part of valour.

Caddies have been very much on the agenda in the recent weeks, ever since Tiger Woods parted with Steve Williams - the man on his bag for 13 of his 14 major wins. Williams sparked comments about how much a good caddie is actually worth as his new employer, Adam Scott, won at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational last week, so McIlroy was inevitably asked for his thoughts on his own man, JP Fitzgerald, at the start of the week.

"JP over the last three years has become a really good friend of mine, and he's been very loyal to me, and I feel as if I'm very loyal to him," McIlroy said. "Everyone's expectations of a caddie are different, what they mean to you and what you feel as if you need from them.

"You know, to be honest, I like JP because I can talk about things other than golf on the golf course in between shots, take my mind off it, which I like. I think, not to take anything away from anyone else, at the end of the day the decisions that I make are with me."

That is how McIlroy likes to operate, and he's certainly not the only player on tour in that regard. But his dictatorial approach has led to criticism on and off for a number of years now, most notably after his final round implosion at Augusta and most recently at the Irish Open when he got into a spat with on-course commentator Jay Townsend - who controversially compared McIlroy's course management to that of a 10-year-old on Twitter.

"I think Rory might have hurt himself by hitting a tree root, smart play??? I'll let you all decide," was the wry tweet Townsend offered as McIlroy recoiled in pain after his latest decision on Thursday.

What input does JP Fitzgerald really have? © Getty Images

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Little more needed to be said; his opinion on the matter was easy to imply. Yet Fitzgerald has always been fiercely defended by McIlroy, as was the case when directly referred by the media ahead of this event.

"There were a lot of comments after the Masters, whether he was the right man for me, and yeah, we both made mistakes," McIlroy acknowledged. "We didn't communicate as well with each other as we should have done. But we learned from that and we put it right at Congressional."

But it has gone wrong again in Georgia. McIlroy may have wanted to hit the shot he was presented with on the third hole - the punishment of having to chip out always seems more severe to the younger player - but JP should have seen the bigger picture. Wrist injuries are not to be messed with - just ask Luke Donald, who said he "felt sick" watching McIlroy as it brought back memories of his problems in 2008. Paul Azinger, meanwhile, warned that such injuries could be "career-threatening".

Considering all that, Fitzgerald should have ensured the safety-first approach was the one that was taken.

Instead, he kept quiet - or at the least did not make his voice prominently heard - and allowed McIlroy to do the sort of damage that will almost certainly cost him his shot at this championship, and could come back to haunt him at a few more before he is fully healed.

In that recovery period, however long it takes, McIlroy might do well to look to the example of Woods. The 35-year-old may be struggling at the minute, but his is the major example McIlroy most wants to emulate, after all.

Woods, it must be remembered, had the experienced Mike 'Fluff' Cowan on the bag for his breakthrough Masters appearance. Cowan had the experience and calm head that the 21-year-old Woods needed at the time, but that soon changed. Williams eventually came in and offered more as a looper; filling multiple roles from on-course bodyguard to off-course friend.

It was a recipe for success, but one Cowan simply didn't have the character to ever cook up himself.

McIlroy keeps defending his current caddie, but in many ways that only illustrates his need to follow Woods' example. It is he who leads, it is Fitzgerald who dutifully follows. Twice in a year, his decision-making in majors has been shown to be woefully misguided. Fitzgerald has been fortunate enough to be there for one major win, but that should be it.

It might not be this week, or even this year, but McIlroy needs to change his caddie. If his on-course judgment can't always be trusted - and it certainly seems it can't - then he needs to have another one on hand as and when it is required.

Otherwise he's just hurting himself. Literally and figuratively.

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