Mike Bianchi: Let's hope Rory McIlroy never stops speaking his mind

ORLANDO, Fla. — Keep roaring, Rory.

Keep speaking your mind.

Keep being fearlessly outspoken instead of timidly cautious.

I hope Rory McIlroy never changes because we need more athletes who are willing to give us their unfiltered opinions, no matter whom they might offend. Unlike other say-nothing professional golfers, Rory is not afraid to give us his unvarnished viewpoint without the requisite sugar-coating — even if his stance is not popular among his peers.

“Why wouldn’t I speak my mind?” McElroy said Saturday after firing a record-tying back-nine 30 to pull within four shots of the leaders heading into the final round of The Arnold Palmer Invitational. “You ask me my opinion and I give it to you. I’m not going to stand up here and lie to you.”

He’s 34 now, but he was the same at 24. Back in 2013 when iconic players such as Tiger Woods stayed silent on the Open Championship being played at Muirfield — the storied Scottish course that didn’t allow female members at the time — the 24-year-old Rory at least had the guts to say, “This is something that shouldn’t be happening these days.” When Muirfield finally did start allowing women four years later, Rory said during a press conference right here at the Arnie that it was “obscene” and “horrendous” it took Muirfield so long to do the right thing.

Rory could have easily ignored the controversy like Tiger did, but he gave his honest opinion. Likewise, he could have tap-danced around a question asked by renowned national golf writer Bob Harig of SI.com Friday at the Arnie, but he confronted the question head on and ended up ruffling feathers in the process.

Rory said he would like to see the PGA Tour become “more cutthroat, more competitive” by contracting instead of expanding. Rory wants fewer golfers and fewer tournaments and presumably wants the PGA Tour to be more of a World Tour composed of 17 or 18 no-cut tournaments with only elite golfers competing.

“Probably won’t be very popular for saying this but I’m all for less players and less Tour cards, and the best of the best,’’ McIlroy said.

Rory was right. His comments weren’t popular with some of the rank-and-file PGA Tour members who are grinding every week in an attempt to make the field in the Tour’s new smaller and more-exclusive “signature events” like the Arnie. It used to be that the Arnie’s field was made up of 120 golfers, with nearly half the field missing the cut, but this year the field was just 69 golfers and only 11 missed the cut.

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