Some things come with winning. In Rory McIlroy's latest case, it involved lifting a rather large ceramic trophy as the newest name on the Bridgestone Invitational, a first WGC title for the Northern Irishman; it also meant returning to the number one position in the official world rankings; and, as he sat in a chair behind a desktop in Akron on Sunday night, the additional duty required of a champion in signing dozens upon dozens of replica flags.
And, yet, as McIlroy put his coveted autograph to a collection of memorabilia that ranged from flags to coasters to odd-looking square boxes with the Bridgestone logo, the 25-year-old was unrushed and engaging as he indulged in a further, more informal question-and-answering session beyond the official champion’s press conference.
For sure, there is an inner peace and an outward aura about McIlroy these days. As more and more of his peers are believing, when McIlroy is on his game, most of them are playing for the lesser prizes.
"Rory's in incredible form at the moment, he'll be the man to beat (in the US PGA)," observed Adam Scott, the player dethroned from the top of the world rankings.
For McIlroy, these are the best of times. The targets he has set are being met in an almost flawless, routine manner. No one is unbeatable on a golf course but McIlroy has developed an air of invincibility that only a few greats of the game in the modern era have possessed: Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods.
Further revealed
Interestingly, it is Nicklaus – rather than his fellow-Nike swooshed superstar Woods – who, increasingly, is influencing McIlroy’s mindset. As he further revealed after his Bridgestone win, before moving on to Louisville where he will again meet the Golden Bear at tomorrow’s Champions Dinner at Churchhill Downs, his recent get-together with Nicklaus involved discussing the possibility of designing golf courses together, of the brand that Nicklaus has developed and of Nicklaus’s legacy.
As McIlroy recalled of that meeting in Florida: “It didn’t start off to be anything about golf. It was more like how he managed his time, and I have got busier over the last couple of years, just what he did and some little tips or tricks he could give me to try and manage my time better, my schedule better. It just turned into everything. There is a golf swing (tip) in there, there’s some stories he was telling from the past, about going into tournaments, and he talked about golf course design and maybe doing golf courses together one day. There was loads of different things going on. He talked about his brand, he talked about what he has done and what legacy he wants to leave. All that, it was cool.”
Even at 25 years of age, McIlroy is learning from the maestro. And, in his mind, there is a developing sense of what his own legacy will and can be. These days, McIlroy – who has been drawn with Bubba Watson and Martin Kaymer for the first two rounds of this week's US PGA at Valahalla in the traditional three-ball group of current Major champions – has designs on fulfilling his full potential and is playing with an inner calm that defies the sheer power he brings to his drives.
McIlroy – who played nine holes at Valhalla yesterday, with a further nine planned for today before playing a full 18 holes of practice tomorrow where Darren Clarke will, just as he was in Hoylake, be the opponent to sharpen his game in a small money side bet – has moved on to Kentucky with momentum and a sense that he is on top of his game.
‘Play this game’
“I’m lucky to be able to play this game, it’s been great to me. I want to make the most of it, of course. I practise very hard to get where I am at . . . it’s not effortless but it feels normal. I think it has all to do with how I feel mentally on the course. I am just sticking to whatever I am doing right now. I am not really focusing on anything else but that particular shot that I have and I keep doing that shot after shot. I am going to try to keep doing it for as long as possible because it is working really well,” said McIlroy.
As for how he has come to find this mental state, McIlroy is convinced it is because he has once again put golf as his top priority. “Putting golf first,” he replied, “and really dedicating my whole time and everything I have into my career. I’ve worked extremely hard and I’m reaping the rewards now. I’ve worked hard all year and I just feel like I’ve had this renewed focus and dedication and it seems to be paying off.”
Indeed, the manner in which McIlroy has seemingly stepped into Woods's shoes as the player with an aura can be gauged from some facts and figures: the last player to win consecutive starts entering the US PGA was Woods in 2009, after he won the Buick Open and the Bridgestone (Woods finished runner-up to YE Yang in the PGA); while McIlroy will attempt to become just the 12th player since 1934 to win the week before a Major, the last player to do so being Phil Mickelson who won the Scottish Open ahead of the 2013 British Open. Tiger Woods was the last player to do so previously, following his 2007 Bridgestone win with success in the US PGA.
At the PGA Championship this week, McIlroy will look to become the first player to win three consecutive starts on the US Tour since Tiger Woods won five consecutive over the 2007 and 2008 seasons. Woods won the BMW Championship and Tour Championship to close out the 2007 season then came back and won his first three starts of 2008 (Farmers Insurance Open, WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, Arnold Palmer Invitational).
These are the challenges which McIlroy is relishing, that inner calmness that is allowing his clubs to do the talking. “My goal now until the end of the year is to win as many golf tournaments as I can.”
Sound familiar? Echoes of Jack and Tiger in their heyday.
