During a round of golf late in 2004 two time World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz was part of a celebrity golf day in Wales only hours after driving his Citroen Xsara in the Wales Rally GB and towards the end of as when he was considering whether to renew for one more year. Having achieved all there was to achieve in the sport, amassed a personal fortune that would ensure a comfortable future, and in turn become one of the most recognised sports person in Spain, it was not an easy decision to make. Albeit the season saw him trailing behind team-mate Sebastien Loeb, and on his way to a fourth place in the WRC Championship.
Having read a number of interviews and known Carlos for some years, the soundings all signalled his intention to give it one last season, with the accompanying sense that 2005 would be the last year. Mindful of that and given the detailed nature of the Spanish motoring legend, I knew that he would have given it endless thought and consulted far and wide to be sure he had every angle covered. So it was a surprise in a way that he asked my opinion as we trundled down the fairway in our shared golf cart, more concerned that my advice may not be to his liking, given the murmurings heard up to that moment from reliable sources.
But in a flash I told him he should hang up his rally boots and clearly explained the basis for my thoughts – which he took on board very calmly - as he always did. Yet very mindful that such a talent was fully entitled to leave me stranded in the Vale of Glamorgan – clubs and all - for daring to disagree.
Without a further word said about the matter we finished the tournament with the Sainz playing his normal excellent game and parting as friends when he flew back to Madrid later that evening, going on to finish out the remainder of the World Rally season. Having reflected on things over the subsequent weeks and based on my years working in sport with world class competitors, I was very accustomed to a sycophantic environment that can permeate the worlds of these prodigies. I was also very cognisant of an often undetected vulnerability of many, who behind brave facades carry the same lingering doubts every day they compete that we all do, and often just needing a reassuring discourse in order to regain their mojos. In those scenes I have also seen the wrong kind of medicine prescribed, with threats and over enthusiastic cajoling failing to trigger the on-button.
In this case with Carlos my view had been assembled over a long period and watching him closely during that season – and not a random nervous response to an unexpected question.
It is on these small moments in sports management that major decisions can fall short. Or moments when an inappropriate silence can give a consent that had one been less fearful, might have been of more value. Over time it becomes a learning experience and is only productive when the partnership is transparent, without commercial baggage and both sides see the value in working with opposing together - despite opposing views. Also, it is easier to work with individual sports people, rather than teams, as the factors and influences can more easily be isolated and controlled. Much more so obviously than a soccer team dressing rugby, or in an extended rugby squad, which requires a different type of expertise in my view. In the case of Carlos Sainz he was exceptionally intelligent, very perceptive, extremely respectful and an overall class act.
In looking at the challenges facing Rory McIIroy at this current time one feels that there are many parallels, albeit the talented golfer is at the start of a promising career, rather than towards the end of it. Which in ways can be more difficult as there is always a hurriedness about to capture major wins, as opposed to the other end of a career where those titles may have been already secured and there is a more worldly view on life perhaps. Regardless both still need those discussions of the who, the why and the wherefore in order to keep motivated and focused. For Rory, it would seem that having won the first major, quite easily it has to be said at Congressional last summer, the race to match Tiger Woods and then Jack Nicklaus’s title's suddenly looked easy - as he was only 23.
In fact too easy, if all the newspaper hype was to be believed.
From the outside looking in one can only imagine that it is time for Horizon Sports to have one of those golf cart type discussions, where up close-and-personal sort out what is on their mind, in order to assess whether the goals are still correct. In fairness for Carlos part of the problem was always going to be finding the "right time" to exit stage left. Never easy when you have reached the top of the world as one of the best rally drivers of your generation and surround by adulation form fans world wide. As in the case of many a sports person picking that right time is never easy, but Annika Sorenstam probably managed it the best in golf, announcing a year out or so that it was all coming to an end. Doing so after she had spent the time making up her own mind. Others have teetered too long in some sports, through a need for relevance, and it does not work so well.
In the golf world today reaching number is possible for a number of players in the top ten, as Rory McIlroy has discovered. The harder thing to do though is stay there for an extended period as Tiger Woods has done. Or Sir Nick Faldo or Greg Norman have both done. To achieve this the Holywood golfer needs to give another percentile of effort, albeit his God given golfing talent is much more difficult to improve on. However to come one of the greatest golfers, as his promise has shown some of those tough conversations need to take place soon – if that is something Rory wants to achieve.
However as we are all only human it maybe that this type of life is not really what Rory wants now he has eared millions, nor is the thought of another decade chasing a white ball around the world in search of majors. Rather a settle and more balanced life doing what he wants and in the company of someone he loves. Which is not illegal either. After all, George Best quit at the age of 27, Bjorn Borg did the same at 26 and ladies world number Lorena Ochoa at 28 – and most sponsors survived their departure from the sporting stage unscathed.
In the meantime though the only worrying thing is that the media take on a level of analysis of McIlroy’s life that is not only inappropriate, and too easily founded on supposition rather than hard facts – which is also somewhat unfair. But that sells newspapers as easily as winning a major does and in a year when so much has happened – from losing the Masters to winning the US Open, to meeting girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki, to now seeing a bad slip in form – the situation needs to be managed and control taken on things. And perhaps that is being done behind closed doors as it would have surely been one of the reasons that McIlroy switched management companies.
Or could it be that at Horizon Sports there is light ouch management which suited better when things were on the up-and-up, but may not be the prescription when man-a-mano combat is required in the wake of continuous missed cuts. Also in the wake of a very a second very unimpressive Open Championship at Lytham by the 201 Us Open winner.
Whatever it is, a short trip today in a golf cart would be my prescribed course of action.
Which reminds me, Carlos Sainz announced his retirement from the World Rally Championship and Citroen at the end of the 2004 season - proving a big surprise to many.
In 2010 he then fulfilled a lifetime ambition by winning the Dakar Rally with Volkswagen.
Courtesy ©OSM – All rights reserved [First published July 2012]
