Rory McIlroy is undoubtedly one of the most sensational golfers in the industry. His presence on the greens has always been acknowledged and minutely followed, and his achievements have always been idealized. Yet even this golfer of such high caliber gets called out for one particular thing about his appearance, in a fun way though!

The PGA Tour shared a photo from the Pro-Am round of four stars at the Muirfield Village Golf Club before the commencement of the PGA Tour’s second last signature event, the 2024 Memorial Tournament. On their X handle, the PGA Tour wrote, “Good morning from Muirfield.” This followed a list of the names of all the players present within the photo, from left to right: “Peyton Manning, Rory McIlroy, Chris Pratt, Anthony Gonzalez.” When the PGA Tour shared the same photo on their official Instagram account, they captioned it, “Swinging with the stars (@MemorialGolf version) 🤩.”

Although the frame was filled with important personas, Rory McIlroy was seen visibly as the shortest of the bunch. This attracted much controversy regarding how tall Rory McIlroy truly is. Standing only 1.75 m [5’9 ft] high, McIlroy marks a distinct difference of 0.21 meters from Peyton Manning, who is 1.96 m [6’5 ft]. Manning is a former football quarterback who played in the NFL for 18 seasons.

The Guardian of the Galaxy actor, Chris Pratt was also seen at Muirfield. The 44-year-old Pratt stands 1.88 m [6’2 ft]. While a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio’s 16th district and a former football player, Anthony Gonzalez is 1.83 m [6’0 ft], making Rory McIlroy the only one there before 6 ft.

When the golf industry witnessed the height difference, they instantly questioned McIlroy’s height and made light humor out of it.

Rory McIlroy gets compared to Frodo

One of the fans compared McIlroy to Frodo by saying, “Rory out here looking like Frodo.” Frodo Baggins is one of the renowned characters from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Ring Series. The character of Frodo Baggins is a hobbit with a height somewhere in between 2′-4′ ft. However, in the movie, he is 4’1” (1.24 m) as per a comparative analysis of film frames. Despite being close to 6 ft, McIlroy was reduced to a hobbit’s height.

Another fan wrote, “Love it! Peyton and his sons lol.” Peyton Manning is the tallest in the group photo standing at 6’5 ft. In comparison to Manning, all the other golfers on the course looked smaller, and the Northern Irishman looked the smallest. The whole picture thus raised the former NFL player as a father figure from the fans’ perspectives.

Looking at Rory McIlroy‘s situation, another fan suggested, “Someone get Rory a step stool.” With almost half-a-foot difference from Manning, fans made fun of McIlroy telling him that he requires a step stool to stand on the same level as all the celebrity golfers in the photo.

Yet another fan wrote, “Rory is tiny compared to actual athletes 😂.” There have been ample discussions and controversies regarding whether golfers are athletes or not. In a frame where two former football players, Manning and Gonzalez, tower over McIlroy with their 6+ ft heights, the fandom rules out McIlroy from the group of ‘actual athletes’.

Someone else commented, “Rory is such a Manlet that’s why his ego has always been what it is, little short man syndrome.” Calling out McIlroy’s ego, another fan also attributed it to his psychological response to being a short man. The fan also used ‘Manlet’; “a pejorative term referring to men who are below average height who attempt to emphasize their masculinity through bodybuilding,” according to Collins Dictionary. They referred to the golfer as an egoistic person, and there have been a few instances of it in the past. He made many unpleasant comments about the Saudi-funded league and even broke up with Caroline Wozniacki in 2014 over a 3-minute phone call.

Rory McIlroy’s winning performances at the Zurich Classic and Wells Fargo Championship helped him become the talk of the town for his game. Do you think he will win the Memorial Tournament?