Mcilroy a solitary force on PGA Tour
Winning attitude powers Irish star as he turns 30
“Whoever that was, he’s gone.”
It was a podcast about leadership and Rory Mcilroy was telling the story about that fateful Masters Sunday in 2011, the day he turned a four-shot final round lead into a 10-shot deficit, and threw away a chance at his first major title.
The 21-year-old re-watched the Masters footage in the weeks after the tournament. He saw a defeated young man walking around Augusta National with rounded shoulders and eyes fixed downward, and swore it would never happen again. He told host David Novak that he made a conscious effort two months later, at the U.S. Open, to walk with the now-familiar chest-out, head-up, bouncing gait. He made sure to always look above the crowd line. He wasn’t satisfied staring down his opponents, he would stare over them. He shot a record-breaking 16-under par that week at Congressional and won his first major.
Three years later, on the 72nd hole of the 2014 PGA Championship, he joined Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to win four majors by age 25.
Now, it’s five years later. Mcilroy turns 30 on May 4, and unless he wins the Masters, he’ll turn the page on his 20s without having added another major. However, coming off a runner-up finish to Dustin Johnson at last week’s WGC Mexico Championship, and with top-five finishes in all four tournaments he’s entered this year, hopes are high.
“If I’m excited about anything with my game, it’s my putting and my attitude,” Mcilroy told Sky Sports on Sunday. “It’s probably the best they’ve been in a long time.”
There’s an authenticity to Mcilroy that’s rare in a superstar. He says and does what he feels and frequently pays for it. Last week, it was for his decision to skip this year’s Irish Open.
Earlier in the year, it was for his choice to play full-time on the PGA Tour, upsetting European supporters. Before that, it was for saying he “resented” the Olympics for making the Northern Ireland native choose between Britain and Ireland.
All this for a man who admits he doesn’t handle criticism well.
There is perhaps no top golfer who carries a heavier load on his shoulders, but Mcilroy never leaves you in doubt — on the course or off — about who’s in charge.
In the “we” era of pro golf, Mcilroy is unabashedly and refreshingly the master of his own fate. In a lengthy interview with the Irish Independent’s Paul Kimmage, Mcilroy admitted he doesn’t have any close friends on tour.
In 2011, Mcilroy picked himself up off the mat, stuck out his chest, lifted his eyes over the golf world and conquered. Now staring directly at his 30s, Mcilroy is prepared to rely on sheer force of will one more time.