Rory McIlroy is barely a week and a half from the defining victory of his professional life, and he’s still riding the shock waves and coasting on the glory of a green jacket.
“It’s not every day you get to fulfill one of your lifelong goals and dreams,” he said Wednesday, “and I’ve just really tried to enjoy everything that comes along with that.”
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The Masters win stands as one of the most notable in recent golf history, and to McIlroy, who spent more than 10 years trying to win a major and a lifetime trying to win the Masters, that’s because it wasn’t just about golf.
“I think people can see themselves in the struggle at times, and everything that you sort of try to put into getting the best out of yourself in that journey,” he said. “I think people watching someone finally get it done, something they’ve been trying to do for a decade plus, I think it resonated with a lot of people.”
Although he’s now got a fancy new jacket, he’s also still got a day job, and that brought him to New Orleans this weekend for the Zurich Classic. He and Ryder Cup teammate/best pal Shane Lowry are the defending champions at the pairs event, and they’re hoping to replicate the success that had them singing “Don’t Stop Believin’” karaoke last year:
“This tournament last year was a really cool moment for both of us. I think it probably injected a little bit of joy back into golf for me in some way, which I think is really, really important, not to lose that,” McIlroy said. “I had a great year last year, and I think this tournament was sort of the catalyst to the really good golf that I played for the rest of the year.”
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Last year’s event brought out 116,000 fans to TPC Louisiana, and this year’s version is likely to match that number since McIlroy is in the field … and stayed in the tournament despite winning the Masters.
Lowry laughed about that, saying he remembered standing on the 15th at Augusta National on Sunday, watching the leaderboard and remarking to his caddie that the Zurich date might be in doubt. “If things didn’t go his way, I don’t think he’d want to be here,” Lowry said, “and I thought if things did go his way, he’d want to be somewhere else. But I’m happy he’s here.”
“That was one of the things Shane said to me that night, like ‘Are you still wanting to come and play Zurich?’” McIlroy said. “I said, absolutely. We’re defending a title. We had so much fun last year here. Obviously it’s important for me to honor that commitment.”
Both recalled their Sunday at Augusta. Lowry had been in contention, but played himself out of the tournament with an ugly Sunday 81.
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“Honestly, it was one of the weirdest days ever for me because you’re out there trying to win the Masters yourself,” he remembered, “but then when one of your close friends does it, you have no choice but to be happy for him because it is a great occasion. I think it’s a great occasion for golf, for everybody in golf.”
“I do think that the whole day on Sunday at Augusta, I don’t think I’ll have to ever play a harder round of golf in my life,” McIlroy said. “I certainly don’t want to be placed back on that 15th tee box on that Sunday afternoon.”
After he survived that 15th — and a few more challenges besides that — McIlroy finally claimed the green jacket. Since then, he’s heard from two presidents and a range of sports and cultural figures, flown across the ocean, and now must figure out what to do with the rest of his golf life.
“I think Rory’s goals are, who cares anymore?” Lowry joked, throwing up his hands. “He can take it easy for a while.”
“I care,” McIlroy insisted, and no one doubts that. Still, for the first time in more than a decade, the pressure is off … at least until the next major rolls around, and the talk of a 2025 grand slam ramps up.
This news was originally published on this post .
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