CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA | On that tumultuous afternoon in Georgia more than 30 days ago Rory McIlroy captured his first Masters to complete golf’s career Grand Slam, and the repercussions of a magnificent achievement that thrust him to an elite group of five others who have done the same thing are still reverberating around golf the way a gunshot echoes through a canyon.
Roddy Carr, an Irish amateur, former Walker Cupper and a son of Joe (JB) Carr, one of British and Irish golf’s most accomplished amateurs, wrote in an email of visiting Portmarnock, his golf club in Dublin, and seeing a 10-year-old boy practising his chipping while wearing a Masters cap.
On investigation it turns out that the boy had been at the Masters and described it thus: “It was the best day of my life.” Carr noted how lucky the boy was to have been present at such an occasion at so young an age.
“It was amazing to witness the effect Rory McIlroy’s win at Augusta had across Ireland,” Carr wrote. “The whole country – golfers and non-golfers – stayed up late to watch what may be one of the greatest sporting achievements in Irish history.” Has any event in Ireland since the Pope’s visit in 1979 united Ireland so strongly?
Weeks later and back in England, I had a coffee with a friend who said: “I, even I, stayed up to watch it and I’m no golfer, as you know.” I have lost count of the number of people who have asked me what it was like to be in Augusta on that historic day. I reply: “It was my 43rd Masters, possibly my greatest ever and it was a privilege to have been there.”
From that day to this, McIlroy, the man in the eye of the storm, has borne the scrutiny of thousands who pose question after question: What is his reaction to his victory? How many times he has watched a replay of his actions on the 73rd green? How has his life has changed since then? Questions, too, about the tidal wave of congratulatory messages he has received and how, going forward, his life will not be the same as it was.
“Look, I have achieved everything that I’ve wanted – I’ve done everything I’ve wanted to do in the game. I dreamed as a child of becoming the best player in the world and winning all the majors. I’ve done that.” – Rory McIlroy
An obvious question to pose to McIlroy on the eve of the second major championship of the year was this: “You said at Augusta that you were going to be playing with house money. Can you describe what it’s like, how you feel… and has the pressure of the Grand Slam been replaced by any other form of pressure?”
“Look, I have achieved everything that I’ve wanted – I’ve done everything I’ve wanted to do in the game,” McIlroy replied. “I dreamed as a child of becoming the best player in the world and winning all the majors. I’ve done that. Everything beyond this, for however long I decide to play the game competitively, is a bonus.”
Interviewing McIlroy now is unlike interviewing any other player. To his peers the questions focus on what is about to happen to them, in this case at the PGA Championship: How are they playing; how will they deal with Quail Hollow’s luscious rough and damp fairways; does the Green Mile, the last three holes, hold a particular terror and if so what is it?
To McIlroy, though there were some questions about what he hopes to achieve over the next four days, almost all the questions were all about what he has achieved. For example: “What’s it like to achieve the dream of a lifetime? Was it different than you maybe expected it would be, and is one dream of a lifetime enough for any man?”
“Yeah, it’s everything I thought it would be,” McIlroy said. “I think the outpouring of support and congratulatory messages has been absolutely amazing. Look, everyone needs to have goals and dreams, and I’ve been able to do something that I dreamed of for a long time. But I sit here knowing that that very well could be the highlight of my career. That’s a very cool thing. I want to still create a lot of other highlights and high points, but I’m not sure if any other win will live up to what happened a few weeks ago.”
That raised a supplementary question. If McIlroy thinks there might not be anything in his future to match what has already happened, isn’t that a dangerous frame of mind to be in? Dare one suggest it, but is McIlroy sated?
“Do you have another North Star or ambition, one grand target, which is motivating your career from here?” McIlroy was asked.
“Not necessarily,” he replied. “I think everyone saw how hard having a North Star is and being able to get over the line. As I said at the start of this press conference, if I can just try to get the best out of myself each and every week, I know what my abilities are. I know the golf that I can play. And if I keep turning up and just trying to do that each and every week, especially in these four big ones a year, I know that I’ll have my chances.
“I’ve always said I’m never going to put a number on it,” McIlroy continued. “I’ve talked about trying to become the best European ever or the best international player ever or whatever that is. But again, that’s not … mightn’t be the full story. I don’t want to … feel like I … burdened myself with the career Grand Slam stuff. I want to enjoy this. I want to enjoy what I’ve achieved, and I want to enjoy the last decade or whatever of my career, and I don’t want to burden myself by numbers or statistics. I just want to go and try to play the best golf I can.”
That was Rory McIlroy speaking after an early breakfast on the day before the start of his 17th PGA Championship, held on a course where he has already won four tournaments. He looked slightly tired, as well he might, and he displayed rare tolerance of questions he has already been asked dozens of times.
But the overriding impression he gave was of a man at peace with himself, one ready to embark on another five or even 10 years or so of golf at the highest level.
On many occasions in the past McIlroy has looked and sounded admirable. On Wednesday he was the same.