Rory McIlroy had won, and then he felt lost.
After his victory to last year’s Mastershe began to wonder: What’s next? He had long wanted to win at Augusta National, and especially since he won the 2014 Open Championship, which left him just one green jacket away from the career grand slam. But then he succeeded.
And his question became a topic in the press conferences of the tournament.
McIlroy said at last year’s RBC Canadian Open, playing two months after the Masters: “Yes, I don’t know if I’m chasing something. Of course, I would say that the last few weeks I had a couple of weeks off, and going to grind on the range for three or four hours every day is maybe a little harder than it was an event in your life. It’s difficult to find the motivation to get back on the horse and go again “.
McIlroy said at last year’s US Open, a week after the Canadian: “Look, I dream of the final putt in the Masters, but don’t think about what comes next. I think I’ve always been a player who struggles to play after a big event, after winning any tournament. I’ve always struggled to present myself with motivation, because you want to enjoy something the week after, and you want to enjoy something the week after. I like the fact that you have achieved a goal, I think I’ve been chasing a certain goal for most of a decade and a half, I think I allowed myself some time to relax a little.
Finally, it reset. We started to hear about other goals. Winning last year’s Ryder Cup (which he did). Winning last year’s season points race on the DP World Tour (which he did). Winning the other three majors again, which would give his caddy, Harry Diamond, his own career grand slam. In January, he was also talking about it winning an Olympic gold medal, an Open Championship in St. Andrews, and a US Open “at one of those old traditional golf courses, whether Shinnecock this year or Winged Foot or Pebble Beach, Merion.”
“I’m sure if I were to get these things, which I hope I do, I’ll probably give you more things in four years,” he said. “I think when you’re a competitive person, it’s just the way you’re wired and sort of the way you operate.”
On Tuesday, ahead of this week’s DP World Tour Championship, McIlroy said his public displays of intent were part of a bigger plan, though.
The goal is to win, of course.
But the thought is that he also wants to be a man of his word.
“Regarding resetting goals, I think you almost have to have, not like amnesia, but you have to be able to forget the good and the bad, especially the bad, but also the good. Once you win something, yes, you can celebrate and you can reflect a little, but you have to keep moving forward and thinking about what’s next.
“I said openly that I struggled with it, especially after the ’25 Masters, because that’s all I really wanted to do in golf for the last decade, and I did it. And then you have to – and it takes a while. Some people, it comes very naturally that they are able to move on to the next thing and go for it.
“Sometimes I’ve struggled with it over the years and I think that’s why I’ve been very open to trying to read the cycles and trying to move forward and trying to accomplish different things. Because by saying it out loud and telling you guys, you say it, and putting it in the public forum, I hold myself accountable to go and do it.
“It’s good to have these secret goals and to keep things, but if you say it out loud and put it in the public domain, it’s better to follow it. It’s a way to keep your responsibility.”
On Tuesday, McIlroy was also asked another mental question based on the game, in view of the pros Frank Kennedy is disqualified for “serious misconduct after causing deliberate damage to the course” during the DP World Tour Qualifying School. A reporter wondered if McIlroy had his own “anger management issues” and how he dealt with them.
In response, McIlroy said he had his “moments”.
“I’d say from having Harry on the bag, like just going back to Harry, I’ll never get mad at him because he’s my best friend and he’s just doing his best out there and whatever, and it’s not worth it,” he said. “It’s not worth getting upset because I never wanted anything to stop our friendship to begin with.
“But I think that’s what probably keeps me the most calm on the golf course is, like, it’s not worth it. And yes, I think that almost 20 years in a career, you learn to take the rough with the smooth and you know that there will be ups and downs, and as long as you wait for things to happen, then you can deal with them in the right way.”
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