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Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland plays a shot from a bunker on the 16th hole during the third round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club on September 6, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images / AFP
Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy brings a new perspective to next week’s US Open at Winged Foot, his first major golf championship as a parent.
The 31-year-old Irishman and his wife Erica welcomed their daughter Poppy on August 31 and McIlroy, after days without touching a stick, shared eighth in the Tour Championship, his best result since the PGA Tour de USA
“Sometimes you’re a bit in limbo,” McIlroy said. “Your body is here and your mind is trying to be here, but your mind is also a bit divided and behind.
“It is not an excuse. It was not a distraction … you should be able to focus during those 15 or 20 seconds that you are above a golf shot to do what you have to do … But it was on my mind. “
Fourth-ranked McIlroy, who has not won a major since the 2014 PGA Championship, will make his sixth attempt to complete a career Grand Slam by winning the Masters in November.
But first, you will learn what it feels like to play an important role as a parent.
“If you look at the parents in all the different sports, golf, tennis, it’s not a new life, but it’s a different perspective,” McIlroy said.
“The trials and tribulations of what happens on the golf course don’t really seem to matter that much, so you can let it slip a bit more and not be so reactive to your mistakes and know it. it’s important and it’s your career, but at the end of the day you can go home to your family, which is the most important thing. “
It’s a perspective that should help McIlroy as he pursues the form he was in prior to the COVID-19 shutdown of the PGA Tour of America in March.
McIlroy had six top-five finishes before COVID-19 closed the 2019-20 season in March. After coming back in June, McIlroy couldn’t make the top 10 in eight events until her daughter was born.
The Tour Championship was McIlroy’s only chance to defend a crown in 2020 having won four times in 2019, the WGC Shanghai and Canadian Open events eliminated by the virus and the Players Championship closed after just one round.
“It has been a difficult year for everyone. I think everyone will be happy to see the end of 2020, “said McIlroy. “But the fact that they all came together in March when the world of sports was closed … that was the most important thing.”
‘Why am I so lucky?’
There’s a hunger to win, but 2011 US Open champion McIlroy has also found new satisfaction that no score can change.
“If I can’t be content and happy right now, I don’t think I ever will be,” McIlroy said. “It’s awesome. It’s the best part of life.
“Sometimes I think that everything that has happened to me on the golf course and off the golf course has already surpassed my wildest dreams, and sometimes I have to pinch myself and ask myself, ‘Why me? Why am I so lucky? ‘”
McIlroy will also play two events next month that were moved from Asia to America’s fields due to the pandemic as adjustments for the Masters, then take a break and enjoy his family.
“I was expecting a calmer fall than I’m going to have,” McIlroy said. “I thought, ‘Three months at home watching my daughter grow a little, it will be nice.’ And it’s kind of a case.
“I have a couple of three-week stints where I can spend time at home and enjoy it, then after the Masters, I have a couple of months to really enjoy it.”
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