AUGUSTA, Ga. — A year ago, Rory McIlroy’s childhood dream came true in front of millions. The same millions who long witnessed his Masters nightmares before that.
Nobody knows the true price of this dream, but now the weight is lifted — and the boy with a big idea about what he wanted out of his golfing life has had everything fall into place.
Now he’s back to try to do it all over again.
“This is going to be the first time I drive down Magnolia Lane,” McIlroy said in a recent interview, “and it’s all going to be about enjoying my week.”
The Masters, McIlroy admitted in a recent documentary about his triumph, was his white whale. He would drive out of the golf club each and every year on Sunday night — and a few times on Friday when missing the cut — and there would always be disappointment.
In a moment of acknowledgment of the gravity of the situation last year, McIlroy opened his winner’s press conference by posing a question of his own to the assembled media.
“What are we all going to talk about next year?” asked McIlroy to hearty laughs.
But the following line was the most poignant.
“Look,” McIlroy continued, “it’s a dream come true.”
McIlroy, in his own words, carried the burden of trying to win the Masters for almost 11 years — not just trying to conquer Augusta National but also complete the career grand slam. He did it, of course, and in the process became just the sixth man in history to achieve such a feat. In the same documentary, McIlroy’s mother always knew her son would do it.
“Only six people have won the grand slam, so it has to be special,” Rosie McIlroy said. “And my son is special.”
McIlroy has been on the golfing world’s radar since forever, it seems. His life in golf mirroring that of Tiger Woods.
McIlroy’s first appearance on national television in his native country happened when he was merely single digits in age. There’s a story from a local Irish paper, from 2005, after McIlroy won the West of Ireland (an amateur event that has been contested for more than 100 years) with the headline, “Golfing teen is set for stardom” and calling his victory at the storied event, “just another stop along the way to superstardom for McIlroy.”
McIlroy didn’t make it easy on himself last Masters Sunday, though.
He opened with a double bogey, and on Nos. 13 and 15, respectively, he hit probably one of the worst golf shots in major championship history followed by one of the best with a slinging 7-iron approach around a tree and over the water and to just a few feet for an eagle. A putt that he missed.
McIlroy and Justin Rose — often a friend, but on that day, a foe — ended up in a playoff. That’s when McIlroy’s long-time caddie, and even longer-time friend, Harry Diamond said the thing that caddies are supposed to say at exactly the right moment.
“Well, pal, we would have taken this on Monday morning,” Diamond told McIlroy as they got in a cart back to the 18th.
A playoff to win the Masters? Yes. Absolutely.
“I think they don’t understand that he provides a level of comfort on the golf course for me that probably no one else in the world could,” McIlroy said of Diamond.
That was the mental reset McIlroy needed.
Afterwards, McIlroy said that moment with Diamond was the only one from the finale when he felt an overwhelming calm.
In the playoff, McIlroy roasted his tee shot and faced an approach similar to the one he faced in regulation, which resulted in a bogey and forced him into a tie with Rose.
McIlroy hit this one stiff but still had a short putt left, something he had struggled with through the whole of Sunday. However, this one he didn’t miss.
One of 100,000 three-footers McIlroy has made in his life, but none that produced a reaction like this one.
He tossed his putter behind his back and collapsed before screaming into the perfectly trimmed Georgian grass. And while McIlroy’s wedding and the birth of his daughter were lovely, happy days, there wasn’t much joy on this one, McIlroy said. It was just pure relief.
And then he cried. McIlroy cried for almost the whole of the 150-yard walk from behind the 18th green to the scoring tent. He cried in the green jacket ceremony. He cried in the press conference after the fact, and in each piece of content that’s been filmed wrapping up his win.
“You’ve had Jack (Nicklaus), Gary (Player), Tom (Watson), Tiger, you name it, come through (Augusta National) and all say that I’ll win the Masters one day. That’s a hard load to carry,” McIlroy said after his win. “It really is.”
McIlroy is among the most human superstars in golf. As his hair has gone greyer, he’s long realized what’s important, while also firmly embracing being the Masters champion. And why wouldn’t he? We knew what his dream was, and we know what has been expected of him year after year.
So, it wasn’t surprising to see he did a photoshoot with all four major trophies at the Giant’s Causeway in his native Northern Ireland. Nor was it surprising to hear he worked closely with Augusta National’s sommeliers to choose a selection of very much if-you-know-you-know wines for his champions’ dinner on Tuesday night.
If it was only going to happen once, he wanted it to be done right.
It also wasn’t surprising to see McIlroy alongside his father Sunday for a pre-tournament round on a day where play is reserved for past champions only. McIlroy wore a blue ‘ANGC’ hat — purchased at the players’ pro shop and not available to the public — after wearing the same hat in white the day prior.
A father and son. One achieved every golfing dream he ever had because of the sacrifice of the other.
The whole of his family was thanked at last year’s Green Jacket ceremony. To Poppy, his daughter, he said with his voice breaking, “Never give up on your dreams. Never, ever give up on your dreams.”
A year’s gone by now. Alan Shipnuck’s recently released biography, ‘Rory’ puts a bow on McIlroy’s golfing journey from young prodigy to Green Jacket winner, and in it, he describes McIlroy’s victory as something that connected with so many people because it transcended the sport.
“We all have outlandish fantasies and ambitions when we’re young,” Shipnuck wrote, “but who is crazy enough to keep chasing them to the brink of middle age?”
McIlroy was. He grew up but never gave in. The Masters dream was still there and would always be until it happened.
And then it did, even after he woke up.
“I talked about the morning after getting to world No. 1 and having this sort of, empty feeling,” McIlroy said. “I didn’t have that with this. I was chasing it for so long.”
The chase is over. Rory McIlroy won.
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