Many golfers of all levels around the world tend to have a habit of being a bit too hard on themselves after a bad day on the links. But James Morrison, who plays on the DP World Tour, really went to town when critiquing his own performance at the end of last week's Dubai Desert Classic.
The Englishman has been a professional since 2006 and has two wins on the DP World Tour - including the 2015 Open de Espana title where he edged out the likes of Miguel Angel Jimenez and Francesco Molinari by a shot. Morrison also claimed a career-high finish of T20 at a Major during the 2015 Open Championship.
But after he finished T56 at Emirates Golf Club following rounds of 70, 72, 72, and 76, Morrison was invited into the DP World Tour's newly-introduced 'Green Room' to dissect what went wrong over the latter half of the week.
The fresh style of interviewing players involves the subject sitting in a chair facing a camera, with an AI robot asking questions. It has been seen before in British sport, featuring in Sky Sports' cricket coverage during both the men's and women's Ashes in 2023.
The idea of interviewing players using this method is to encourage them to let their guard down and hopefully produce more engaging content for fans. And Morrison's chat certainly did that.
Asked how he was feeling after his final round - a four-over 76 - Morrison replied: "Like s**t." The AI interviewer then queried about what made is so bad, leading the 38-year-old to go on a particularly self-depreciating rant.
Morrison said: "All of it. F***. That was the [third] time I've made the cut here in [13] years, so I must be happy to make the cut, but when you play like that [on Sunday] at four-over par - so so so so poor. I looked like a seven-handicapper, on a good day.
"I guess, back to reality because I actually felt like a golfer on the first two days, but then reality set it. I'm not, I'm just s**t. I should've worked harder at school! Dad, sorry for wasting money on my education. I should have worked a lot, lot harder at school, and then I wouldn't be sitting in this chair right now."
The most honest golf interview ever? 🤬 @jimbogolf1 didn't hold back in the Green Room after his final round @DubaiDCGolf pic.twitter.com/MxIPtLvvDuJanuary 22, 2024
Morrison - who finished 18 shots behind eventual winner, Rory McIlroy - went on to point out how easy the Northern Irishman makes golf appear and admitted he was simply looking forward to getting home before flying back out to the Middle East for the Ras Al Khaimah Championship and subsequent Bahrain Championship.
Asked if there were any positives he could take from [Sunday], Morrison replied: "I fly on the BA flight home tonight would be the only positive. If you watch guys like Rory [McIlroy] and those guys, they make the game look so easy. And, actually, the game is f***ing impossible, absolutely impossible for the mere mortal."
Morrison ended the interview by jokingly putting himself on the job market. He said: "If anybody wants to employ an overweight golfer, call me, please, ASAP."
