Part of Tiger Woods’s moving letter to a young boy who had suicidal thoughts after being bullied at his high school for having a stutter. The boy had the letter framed and it hangs proudly on his bedroom wall.
Rory McIlroy must have allowed himself a wry smile last week on reading Tony Jacklin’s comments that settling down and getting married would bring the best out of the Northern Irishman.
In fact, over the past stunningly successful 12 months, exactly the opposite has proved the case.
A press conference at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth tomorrow will mark a year since McIlroy told the world tearfully he was splitting up from his fiancee, Caroline Wozniacki. Goodness, what a year it has been.
To be fair, he wasn’t exactly a hacker during his engagement. But the truth of the matter is he has become a golfer transformed since ditching the celebrity lifestyle and concentrating more of his energies on what happens inside the ropes.
Before, the news pages were all too full of stories about the ‘Wozilroys’. Now, unless you follow the showbiz gossip carefully, you wouldn’t even know he had a girlfriend (he has, but given his obvious desire to conduct this romance in private, let’s move on).
These days, blessedly, it’s all golf, golf, golf when you read about Rory. Or rather win, win, win. Just look at the incredible difference between the 24 events McIlroy played before his much-publicised split and his record from the equal number of events he has competed in since that date last May.
In the previous 12 months, he mustered one victory in the Australian Open and three runner-up finishes. Not bad, admittedly. Indeed, the sort of stats to satisfy 90 per cent of professional golfers. But just compare it to what has happened in the past year, where the stats are off-the-charts good.
These last 24 events have produced seven wins and four runner-up finishes. He’s won two majors, two WGCs and Europe’s flagship event. In 20 of those 24 events he has finished inside the top 20.
True, there were other factors, such as growing more familiar with his Nike clubs after his megabucks switch at the start of 2013. It was not until September of that year that he found a driver-ball combination with which he felt confident. But the prime reason for the stark difference was surely him becoming more single-minded again, after becoming single once more.
McIlroy’s latest success, at the Wells Fargo tournament in North Carolina, emphasised the point that when he’s playing ‘nine or 10 out of 10’ golf there’s no point talking about rivalries because there really is nothing anyone else can do to stop him.
Is it a coincidence that his last two victories have followed big successes for Jordan Spieth at the Masters and Rickie Fowler at the Players Championship? He’s got two gifted and hungry young peers to keep him on his toes.
‘It does push me,’ he admitted. ‘I think you see guys winning big golf tournaments that you want to win, it motivates you to practise that little bit harder and play that little bit better. I feel as the best player in the world I want to go at it every week and not so much prove it but just show it.’
He’s certainly doing that, all right. During his utterly dominant seven-stroke victory last week there was a third-round 61 to rank among his great ones. One fact emphasised perfectly the exceptional quality of his ball striking. It was the 32nd round of 61 or better on the PGA Tour in the last five years — but the only one that didn’t contain a putt holed over 15 feet.
This latest win meant he became the first non-American player to win 11 times on the PGA Tour by the age of 30, beating Gary Player’s record of 10. As for the present, no current player under the age of 38 has won more — and McIlroy only turned 26 earlier this month.
And now he’s back home on UK soil for what promises to be a momentous fortnight to complete a fabulous five-week stretch.
First up, the defence of his title on a course that, in truth, doesn’t quite fit his eye. McIlroy is at his majestic best on venues that allow him to unsheathe his driver on most holes.
Last week he hit 42 drives of 300 yards or more and yet still hit 55 per cent of fairways. There’s no room at Wentworth to use his driver on anything like that number of holes. But, as he showed last year, he’s grown so much as a player he can now win in different ways.
Then it’s back home to Belfast for what will surely prove one of the great sporting spectacles of all time on Irish soil. A Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by Rory taking place some 30 minutes from where he grew up at the most gorgeous of links courses, Royal County Down.
Does it get better than that? ‘It’s going to be my fifth major this year,’ said McIlroy, smiling.
This week, there’s no end of sporting competition taking place within a short drive of Wentworth. There are matches forming part of the Premier League finale, the Football League play-offs at Wembley and a Test match at Lord’s.
But still they’re anticipating record crowds at the West Course and quite right, too. With McIlroy at the helm, let the great UK golfing revival begin. – Daily Mail