Rory McIlroy, the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world, walked off the course in the middle of his ninth hole Friday, withdrawing from the Honda Classic. Geoff Foster has details on The News Hub. Photo: Reuters. 
 
 Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. 
 
 Thus far, Rory McIlroy's new life as a Nike athlete hasn't gone well. The world No. 1-ranked player walked off the course in the middle of his ninth hole Friday, withdrawing from the Honda Classic, where he was defending champion. He was seven over par and had hit three balls into the water. After telling a small scrum of reporters, "I'm not in a great place mentally. I can't really say much, guys. I'm just in a bad place mentally," he swiftly left the premises by car. 
 
 An hour later, the 23-year-old Northern Irishman issued a statement apologizing for his withdrawal, which he attributed to a sore wisdom tooth affecting his concentration. A photographer caught him chomping on a sandwich minutes before withdrawing, causing some to doubt the explanation. PGA Tour policy prohibits a player from withdrawing except for injury, disability or serious personal emergency. 
 
 Getty Images Rory McIlroy on Friday 
 
 Ernie Els, who played with McIlroy Friday, said later, "I'm a great fan of Rory's, but I don't think that was the right thing to do." Some fans on social media also considered it bad form. 
 
 There were a host of other explanations, sensible or wild, including his romance with tennis star Caroline Wozniacki. The one-time No. 1 in her sport also has been playing poorly of late. 
 
 It was the third tournament this season for McIlroy. In his first, in Abu Dhabi after announcing a huge deal with Nike in January, swaddled in swooshes from head to toe and playing all Nike clubs (except sometimes the putter), he missed the cut. Last week in his second event, the Accenture Match Play in Arizona, he washed out in the first round. 
 
 It's too early to draw long-term conclusions about his adjustment. McIlroy's coach since boyhood, Michael Bannon, told me earlier this week he thought McIlroy would get used to the new equipment pretty quickly. "And pretty quickly for me would be two or three months," he said. In the short term, both McIlroy and Bannon said the major issue are swing flaws that crept in over the winter. "He's coming in under plane," Bannon said. 
 
 There are those, Nick Faldo most prominently, who say that changing everything all at once, including the ball, is a dangerous move. The transition can eat away at a player's confidence and mess with a well-grooved swing. Why take the risk? 
 
 Money, of course. Estimates of the multiyear deal McIlroy signed with Nike range up to $100 million. Every Tour player I talked to at the Honda thought McIlroy's move was a no-brainer. "For that kind of money, I'd switch to hickory sticks," said Johnson Wagner, a three-time Tour winner. 
 
 Wagner is unlikely to get the offer. McIlroy, Tiger Woods and possibly Phil Mickelson are almost certainly the only pros in the eight-figure range for equipment deals, according to an industry person who talked on the condition of anonymity. Even deals of $1 million or more a year are the province of only a few, primarily those in the world top 10, the person said. 
 
 Top pro golfers are independent contractors, and sponsorship revenue is an important part of their livelihood. But below that kind of money, switching even for more money isn't necessarily the right play. "I don't think I'd even talk about switching for $500,000. It would probably have to be $750,000 or $1 million to really think about it," said Ryan Palmer, another three-time Tour winner. If the new clubs cost him a few strokes at the wrong time, it wouldn't be worth it. "When you do the math, two top-five finishes more than pays the difference," he said. 
 
 Most equipment companies base their payments on formulas tied to a player's world and/or money-list rankings. The more of a company's products the player uses, the more he earns. The most valuable commodities are the driver and the ball, which consumers spend the most money on, followed by the hat, highly visible on television and always during interviews. 
 
 Even when players stay within one brand, they are frequently switching to new or improved clubs. "It's not really a difficult process," said Mr. Westwood, who has played Ping clubs for the past 26 years. "You try it out, and if it's no better, then you go back to the other stuff. The problem comes when you change manufacturer, because you can't go back to the other stuff if it's not as good." 
 
 That's what makes McIlroy's rare complete-bag switch to Nike from Titleist so difficult. The quality of Nike's clubs is not at issue. "Is there a difference between Nike's equipment and Titleist's equipment? Infinitesimal," Hall of Famer Nick Price, a Bridgestone player, told me. "All of the top five or six big companies these days are so very good. I know the Nike people, and they will make him clubs every bit as good [as] or better than he had." 
 
 Even if the heads, shafts, lies, lofts and weights of McIlroy's new clubs are identical to his old ones, however, they won't all feel the same. "Some clubs are easier to switch than others. You just pick them up and they work," said Charles Howell III, who switches individual clubs frequently, often from one tournament to the next, depending on conditions. "But other times it's not so easy." 
 
 Several pros told me that three woods are often the hardest to change. Wagner last year moved from Titleist to TaylorMade for his driver and three wood only. Getting comfortable with a new driver was a cinch, but he and the fitters in TaylorMade's equipment van, which follows the Tour, worked hard to get his three wood right. Eventually, by applying just the right amount of an adhesive epoxy known as rat glue to just the right spots on the inside of the crown, they got the club sounding and reacting the way Wagner liked. Two weeks after putting the club in play, he won the Sony Open in Hawaii. 
 
 Instead of taking off a month or more, as he usually does at the end of the year, McIlroy began working on his new sticks with Nike's equipment gurus in Fort Worth, Texas. All that range work away from competition may have been where the bad habits he and Gannon are now trying to fix snuck in. 
 
 McIlroy acknowledged after Thursday's round that he's still consciously working on his swing during play, which isn't what any elite player wants. McIlroy endured a slump last summer, missing four cuts in five events, which he broke out of only after deciding, on the range one day at the WGC Bridgestone in Ohio, to stop thinking about plane angles and positions and instead keep it simple. "I said, 'Why don't I just stand up and hit the ball where I want it to go?' " 
 
 That was the spark he needed. He finished tied for fifth that week and won the PGA Championship the next. 
 
 —Email John Paul at golfjournal@wsj.com. 
 
 Corrections & Amplifications 
 
 Charles Howell III plays with Titleist clubs and others. An earlier version of this column incorrectly called him a full-bag Titleist player. 
 
 A version of this article appeared March 2, 2013, on page A16 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: McIlroy's Meltdown: What's Wrong?. ||||| On Friday, Rory McIlroy, world No. 1, withdrew from the Honda Classic after posting a +7 on his first eight holes of the day. He cited pain from wisdom teeth, but concern about McIlroy wasn't confined to his dental work. With exactly four complete rounds so far in 2013 (a missed cut in Abu Dhabi, a first-round flameout in the WGC-Accenture Match Play and an unremarkable first round on Thursday), he's looked about as fearsome on the course as a kid with a new set of plastic clubs. 
 
 And, yes, new clubs — not plastic, but made by Nike — are taking their share of the heat. During the offseason, McIlroy signed with Nike, and the fact that he hasn't exactly lit up the sky since then has many wondering whether the swoosh might be the problem. McIlroy didn't quell any concerns when he switched from his Nike putter to a Scotty Cameron model after just one round in Abu Dhabi. 
 
 [Related: Rory McIlroy walks off course at Honda Classic] 
 
 So is the McMojo gone? Is McIlroy ready to give back all the gains he made during his impressive 2012? Will Tiger Woods regain his rightful throne atop the golf world? 
 
 In order: No; no; and possibly, but that's a different topic. 
 
 Look, first off we have to recalibrate our definition of what a "great" golfer is. A great golfer these days will win three tournaments in a season. The days of Woods winning eight, nine tournaments in a year? Gone, baby, gone. The level of talent now is broader than at any time in the game's history, and no player, not even McIlroy, is a favorite in the "Tiger-versus-the-field" days of yore. So it's not unexpected that any player will have winless runs. 
 
 [Also: Rory McIlroy withdrew from Honda due to 'severe wisdom tooth pain'] 
 
 Now, granted, winless runs are one thing; looking like you're not sure which end of the club to swing is another. Here's the secret about McIlroy, though: He's insanely streaky. He started 2012, for instance, placing in the top three in four of five tournaments. He then strung together five tournaments, including two majors, in which he missed the cut in three and placed 60th in the fourth. And then he closed off the year finishing 5-1-24-1-1-10, including a thoroughly dominating win at the PGA Championship. So it's entirely possible that by the time the azaleas bloom at Augusta in a few weeks, this initial stumble will be nothing but an ugly, faint memory. 
 
 Plus, let's kill the whole "it's the equipment's fault" meme dead. As our own Shane Bacon put it just a few days ago, "Every equipment company in the world these days is churning out solid stuff that you could put in the hands of any professional golfer and see immediate positive results. A Nike driver is going to have incredible technology, just like a TaylorMade will and a Ping and a Cleveland. The dirty little secret in golf business right now is that it's all really ... good." 
 
 McIlroy is going to be fine. He's got talent, drive, game smarts and a track record of success. We'll just have to accept that his career is less raging locomotive and more roller coaster. 
 
 
 
 -Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.- 
 
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 • Adidas unveils hideous jerseys for six flagship programs this March ||||| Rory McIlroy abruptly walked off the course Friday at the Honda Classic, telling reporters who followed him to his car he's "not in a good place mentally." 
 
 Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, watches his tee shot on the 10th hole during the first round of the Honda Classic golf tournament, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013, in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo... (Associated Press) 
 
 He later said it was more dental than mental, releasing a statement that he couldn't concentrate because of a sore wisdom tooth. 
 
 The surprising departure raised serious questions about golf's No. 1 player with the Masters just more than a month away. McIlroy has played only four rounds in three tournaments this year, and this was a clear sign of frustration. 
 
 McIlroy was asked three times if anything was wrong physically and said there was not. 
 
 "There's not really much I can say, guys," he told three reporters before he drove away. "I'm not in a good place mentally, you know." 
 
 McIlroy already was 7-over par through eight holes of the second round when he hit his second shot into the water on the par-5 18th at PGA National. He shook hands with Ernie Els and Mark Wilson and was headed to the parking lot before they even finished the hole. 
 
 Els also hit into the water on the 18th and was complaining to a rules official about the muddy conditions of the fairway when he realized McIlroy was through. 
 
 "I was dropping my ball and I realized he wasn't dropping his ball," Els said. "I thought maybe his ball crossed further up (the hazard). When I hit my fourth shot, he just came up and said, `Here's my card. I'm out of here.'" 
 
 About an hour after he left, McIlroy released a statement that pinned his withdrawal on dental problems. 
 
 "I have been suffering with a sore wisdom tooth, which is due to come out in the near future," McIlroy said. "It began bothering me again last night, so I relieved it with Advil. It was very painful again this morning, and I was simply unable to concentrate. It was really bothering me and had begun to affect my playing partners." 
 
 He was seen eating a sandwich on the 18th fairway. 
 
 McIlroy apologized to the tournament, saying he had every intention of defending his title at the Honda Classic. He said on Twitter he was "gutted." 
 
 "I'm a great fan of Rory's, but I don't think that was the right thing to do," Els said. 
 
 Told about McIlroy's statement about the sore wisdom tooth, Els softened his stance, not wanting to judge another player's pain. 
 
 "I didn't see anything, but if he had a toothache, that's what it is, you know?" Els said. "Hey, it's tough. If you ask him how he's feeling now, he's obviously feeling terrible for what's happened this morning." 
 
 "I didn't notice anything," Wilson said. "He wasn't playing the way the world No. 1 plays normally. Didn't hit the ball where he wanted to, and he's a true gentleman, though. He ... wasn't treating Ernie and myself in a different way. He was upset with his golf and I guess he had enough for the week." 
 
 McIlroy, coming off a year in which he won a second major in record fashion, already set himself up for scrutiny when he left Titleist to sign an equipment deal with Nike that was said to be worth upward of $20 million a year. 
 
 Nike introduced him with blaring music and a laser show in Abu Dhabi, but it's been all downhill from there. 
 
 McIlroy missed the cut in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship with rounds of 75-75. He took a four-week break, and then was eliminated in the opening round of the Match Play Championship to Shane Lowry in one of the most poorly played matches of the round. 
 
 McIlroy played 36 holes with Tiger Woods at The Medalist on Sunday and said Tuesday it was no time to panic. 
 
 "Even though my results haven't revealed it, I really felt like I was rounding a corner," McIlroy said. "This is one of my favorite tournaments of the year and I regret having to make the decision to withdraw, but it was one I had to make." 
 
 It looked more like McIlroy was sinking than rounding the corner, not difficult to do on a course with so many water hazards. And he found plenty of them. 
 
 McIlroy, who opened with a 70, hit two poor chips that led to double bogey on No. 11, and a wild tee shot to the right led to a bogey on the 13th. His round really unraveled on the par-4 16th, when he hit his tee shot to the right and into the water, took a penalty drop and then came up short of the green and into the water again. He made a 6-foot putt for a triple bogey. 
 
 He three-putted from 40 feet, running his first putt about 10 feet by the hole, for a bogey to go 7 over. And then came the approach on the 18th that found water for the third time on his short day. 
 
 McIlroy is scheduled to play next week in the Cadillac Championship at Doral, which has no cut, and then the Houston Open. But on the first day of March, he has completed only four rounds of competition. 
 
 Els said the attention on McIlroy was sure to increase. 
 
 "I didn't think much of the equipment change. We've all made equipment changes before," said Els, who has used three brands of clubs to win majors. "I think there was a bit of criticism somewhere, and then I think he's furthering responding to that, and I think he's got a bit of pressure coming on him that way. I thought he played quite well yesterday. I thought he was pretty close to playing good golf, and unfortunately this morning ... hopefully he gets it together. We've got next week, got four rounds there. Such a talented player, he'll get it figured out." 
 
 It was the second straight year one of golf's biggest stars failed to finish a tournament on the Florida swing. Woods withdrew after 11 holes on the final round at Doral last year because of tightness in his Achilles tendon, raising questions about the seriousness of his recurring leg injuries. He won Bay Hill two weeks later. 
 
 McIlroy at least drove off from PGA National without a helicopter camera following him. ||||| Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland was 7 over par Friday through nine holes. He walks off the course on the 18th hole, his ninth of the day, and withdrew from the Honda Classic. (Photo: Stuart Franklin, Getty Images) Story Highlights Rory McIlroy withdrew halfway through the second round of the Honda Classic 
 
 McIlroy was 7 over par on the day when he withdrew 
 
 He is expected to be in the field next week at the Cadillac Championship 
 
 PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Maybe it's time to worry. 
 
 World No. 1 Rory McIlroy walked off the golf course Friday and withdrew from the Honda Classic after hitting his second shot into the water on the par-5 18th hole. He initially said he was not in a good place mentally, then later released a statement saying he was struggling with wisdom tooth pain. 
 
 LEADERBOARD: Honda Classic 
 
 The defending champion, who started on the 10th hole, was 7 over after making a double-bogey on the 11th, a bogey on the 13th, a triple on the 16th and a bogey on the 17th. 
 
 McIlroy walked straight to his car and left the Champion Course at PGA National. 
 
 "I sincerely apologize to The Honda Classic and PGA Tour for my sudden withdrawal," McIlroy said in a statement, released by the Tour. "I have been suffering with a sore wisdom tooth, which is due to come out in the near future. It began bothering me again last night, so I relieved it with Advil. It was very painful again this morning, and I was simply unable to concentrate. It was really bothering me and had begun to affect my playing partners." 
 
 McIlroy also tweeted this, after he left the course: "Apologies to all at the Honda. A tough day made impossible by severe tooth pain. Was desperate to defend title but couldn't play on. Gutted" 
 
 But McIlroy did not mention any of that when he spoke to reporters in the parking lot as he walked to his car. 
 
 "There's not really say much I can say, guys," he said. "I'm not in a good place mentally, you know?" 
 
 Asked if anything was wrong physically, McIlroy answered, "No." Asked about his swing getting stuck, he said, "Yeah, I really don't know what's going on." 
 
 The PGA Tour's withdrawal policy states: "During a round, a player may withdraw because of injury or other disability which requires medical attention or serious personal emergency. The player shall notify the PGA Tour tournament director or a PGA Tour Rules Official of his reason for withdrawal, and within a period of 14 days submit written evidence supporting such reason to the commissioner. 
 
 GALLERY: RORY MCILROY WALKS OFF THE COURSE 
 
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 Ernie Els and Mark Wilson were McIlroy's playing companions in the second round. Neither said they sensed McIlroy was bothered by a toothache, and both were surprised that McIlroy walked off after nine holes. McIlroy shook both players' hands, said he had enough and walked away. 
 
 "I'm a great fan of Rory's, but I don't think that was the right thing to do," Els said after the round. But this was before he was told McIlroy released a statement explaining his withdrew because of wisdom tooth pain. 
 
 Els then backtracked a bit. 
 
 "Hey, listen, if something was bothering him, you know, it was bothering him and all credit to him trying to play through whatever pain he was in. He obviously couldn't do it after nine holes anymore. Toothache, it's not fun, I guess," Els said. "He's feeling terrible about it, I know he is. That's the last thing he wants to do is walk off. Yeah, if he's 7 over or whatever he was, you've got something bothering you, you know, the rules of play, you can walk off at any time. Obviously something was seriously bothering him, and he was not going to make the cut and probably didn't want to continue playing that way. … I've played like that before. It's embarrassing. You don't want to be out there while you feel like, get me out of here." 
 
 Els, who has changed equipment as much as any top player in the game, said the scrutiny McIlroy is under might be getting to him. 
 
 "It seems like it's kind of building now a little bit," Els said. "I didn't think much of the equipment change. We've all made equipment changes before. I think there was a bit of criticism somewhere, and then I think he's furthering responding to that, and I think he's got a bit of pressure coming on him that way. I thought he played quite well yesterday. I thought he was pretty close to playing good golf, and unfortunately this morning, hopefully he gets it together. We've got next week, got four rounds there. You know, such a talented player, he'll get it figured out." 
 
 McIlroy's good friend, Graeme McDowell, who played on the opposite side of the morning wave, said he sensed something was amiss with McIlroy as he warmed up on the range. 
 
 "He was in good spirits, but I felt he wasn't hitting the ball well. There were some groans coming out of the bay next to me," McDowell said. 
 
 The fellow Irishmen haven't spent much time together of late but McDowell understands what McIlroy is going through right now. McDowell won the 2010 U.S. Open for his first major, changed equipment and struggled with both his new clubs and his new stature as one of the game's best players. Finally, McDowell said, he had to slap himself in the face and get over it, which he has. McDowell said McIlroy has to do the same thing. 
 
 "He's had a funny start to the year," McDowell said. "He missed the cut in Abu Dhabi, the lost to Shane Lowry in Match Play. All of a sudden he's not getting a lot of momentum. 
 
 "He just needs to get over the hurdle of playing for others and start playing for Rory McIlroy. He wants to prove to the world he's good enough with Nike equipment. He'll get it worked out. He's a smart kid. We all experience this sometime in our careers. To me, it's a mini-crisis. … There's a lot of golf to be played, and he's a class player. He's just going through a unique phase in his career. A lot of going on his world and he has the largest spotlight on him. 
 
 " … But you don't write him off. He has the X factor that so few people have." 
 
 McIlroy missed the cut in his first tournament of the year in Abu Dhabi, lost in the first-round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and shot even-par 70 in Thursday's first round of the Honda. 
 
 McIlroy, who made an equipment change from Titleist to Nike, has downplayed concerns about his new equipment. Instead, he said he was more concerned with his swing and just needed competitive rounds to get it in shape. 
 
 McIlroy is scheduled to play in next week's WBC-Cadillac Championship at Doral.
– The world's top-ranked golfer pulled a rare stunt today, calling it quits in the middle of his round and walking off the course. Rory McIlroy withdrew from the Honda Classic, where he's the defending champ, after going 7-over par on his first eight holes, reports USA Today. "There's not really much I can say, guys," he told reporters in the parking lot, reports AP. "I'm not in a good place mentally, you know." Later, though, McIlroy issued a statement blaming a sore wisdom tooth. So what's going on with the 23-year-old? "Expect a host of explanations, sensible or wild, including his romance with tennis star Caroline Wozniacki," who is also playing poorly, writes John Paul Newport at the Wall Street Journal. Other theories include his switch to Nike clubs in the offseason after a huge endorsement deal, and the extra pressure that comes with being No. 1. Whatever it is, "McIlroy is going to be fine," writes Jay Busbee at Yahoo Sports. "He's got talent, drive, game smarts and a track record of success. We'll just have to accept that his career is less raging locomotive and more roller coaster."