The world’s No. 1 player just withdrew from a tournament citing wisdom tooth pain. Having been lucky enough to never have had wisdom tooth pain, I cannot verify how bad it is, but Rory is a really cool guy, so it must be hurting a great deal.

Unfortunately, that is not the question that most of us want to have answered right now. What enquiring minds want to know is “why has the best player in the world not looked good in 2013?”

While Rory’s talent and ability is unquestionable (refer to the Ryder Cup match in September when he hit the first tee like most of us mortals do, 10 minutes after exiting car in parking lot, before dusting poor Keegan Bradley, arguably the best American player of the week), he is undoubtedly struggling with the new equipment.