If you’ve ever watched Rory McIlroy play golf on the PGA Tour, you’ve probably noticed that he often wears a hat — usually one of two distinct models made by Nike. If you’ve been watching McIlroy compete for Team Ireland at the Tokyo Olympics, however, you may have noticed something a little different — namely, McIlroy opting to play without a hat on. All of which begs the question — what’s led to the change in style, especially at such a high-profile event?
A new report from NBC Sports has the answer, and it has to do with the size of McIlroy’s head. Specifically, it’s relatively small — which means that Nike has to create a custom-sized hat to properly fit on his head. The hats available to Team Ireland don’t have a custom option available, making them too large to fit.
“My head is so small that I have to get Nike to make me custom hats, so whenever I’m in a team events and the hats aren’t custom, they’re all too big,” McIlroy told reporters last week. As the NBC Sports article points out, McIlroy took a similar approach when he competed in the Ryder Cup in 2016.
McIlroy didn’t end up winning any medals this year, instead finishing in a tie for fourth, but his play on the course did impress Kyle Porter of CBS Sports. Porter noted that McIlroy “talked a lot about how he needs to be more relaxed on the course and more athletic with his putting” and “was terrific both on and off the course all week.” Not a bad achievement, hat or no hat.
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