At the start of January 2013, Rory McIlroy sealed what the BBC would call ‘the most lucrative endorsement deal in British sport’ from Nike. It was estimated that Rory, now 23, was in line for a cash bonanza that would send his head spinning. The boy-next-door from Holywood, Northern Ireland, would earn up to $250million (£156m) over five years.
The BBC’s Tom Fordyce summed it up like this: ‘If accurate, those estimates mean McIlroy’s deal is substantially bigger than both Tiger Woods’s most recent 10-year Nike contract – reportedly worth £124m – and David Beckham’s lifetime deal with rivals Adidas, estimated to earn the footballer £100m.’
Nike Golf president Cindy Davis explained why they had laid out such a staggering amount. She said, ‘Rory is an extraordinary athlete who creates enormous excitement with his on-course performance while, at the same time, connecting with fans everywhere.
‘He is the epitome of a Nike athlete, and he is joining our team during the most exciting time in Nike Golf’s history. We are looking forward to partnering with him to take his remarkable career to the next level.’
And Rory said, ‘I chose Nike for a number of reasons. They are committed to being the best, as am I. Signing with Nike is another step towards living out my dream.’
Some cynical pundits suggested there and then that his dream appeared to have changed shape – that the dollar signs had become more important than the winning of tournaments. That Rory’s head had been turned by the fame, the women (he was still with tennis superstar girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki) and the big-time lifestyle. That he had forgotten his roots and was now embarking on the very lifestyle he had once dismissed as not for him, when he had said, ‘For me it’s not about the money. I have always dreamt of playing golf simply to win big tournaments.’
So had he really changed for the worse – or was it simply a case of envy and jealousy from the press corps who had documented his rise from nobody to the very pinnacle of the golfing world? My own feeling is that it was probably a bit of both: that, yes, he had engaged energetically with a more opulent lifestyle and that, yes, it was typical of the press reaction in most sports when the man or woman they made hits the top…the build-’em-up and knock-’em-down syndrome.
But is there any 23-year-old guy who wouldn’t be left a little breathless if a wad of notes was flung at him? Sure, Rory’s life did change, but it was heading that way anyway – he was the world’s No 1 golfer and it would have been a strange thing if his environment and the people within it had not altered to reflect his phenomenal progress.
As we explained in previous chapters, as Rory moved on up the ladder, so did his life. By the end of 2011 even, he had changed management and girlfriends and had bought himself a nice luxury house. He wore expensive clothes and a watch to match. Within another 12 months, he had put his home in Northern Ireland on the market as he admitted for the first time that he was spending more and more time in America.
The lad from Northern Ireland liked the warm weather on the other side of the Pond and it made sense for him to base himself in the States – as he was away from his native land for 50 weeks a year, playing international tournaments. He said he particularly loved Florida – and it would be in the so-called ‘Sunshine State’ that he would set up home in his new life.
Rory had put the Northern Ireland pad on the market – a mansion in 14 acres – for £2million and said, ‘I have really enjoyed living here. It is a really special place which has allowed me to relax and unwind – when I get time!’
His new home in Florida was even more special. It had six bedrooms – as opposed to the four at his former home in County Down – cost almost £7million, and also boasted nine bathrooms! ‘It meant he could go and use a different bathroom each day of the week!’ a source close to the McIlroy camp joked. ‘He had hit the big time and was splashing money about like there was no tomorrow, as if it didn’t matter – which it probably didn’t given the amounts he was now earning.’
The house – in Palm Beach Gardens – also had its own swimming pool, gym and a jetty from which Rory could launch a motor boat. Indeed, a fan of Rory’s in Belfast, quipped, ‘The next item Rory will be purchasing will no doubt be a yacht to go alongside his jetty.’
And, as if to confirm his new-found status as a major celebrity sportsman, Rory’s home was just down the road from another golfing ace…Tiger Woods. But if he were to remain Tiger’s No 1 rival on the golf course – as well as off it as the dollars rolled in – Rory would need to maintain his form on the golf course. Rory’s ascension to the World No 1 spot had coincided with Woods seemingly being in decline. But as 2011 turned into 2012, the Tiger had started to regain some of his old swagger and form. Rory would need to be at his best if he were to keep his biggest rival at bay, but just as Tiger improved, Rory seemed to struggle. There was more talk that things off-course were affecting his game. That he wasn’t concentrating enough on his golf; that his celebrity status and the money were going to his head.
As 2011 became 2012, he urgently needed to claim another major – to silence the doubters and to maintain his position as Woods’s main rival for that world No 1 spot. The back end of 2011 had summed up Rory’s year: brilliant at times, so disappointing at too many others. He had blown his last chance of 2011 to secure another major – when he flopped at the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club in August. It followed on, of course, from a similar disappointment in the Open a month earlier.
Rory suffered a strained tendon on his right wrist on the 3rd hole of the first round after attempting to play a shot from behind a tree. To his credit, he played on but never really looked to be in contention. Rory finished the event in tied 64th after carding an 11-over total of 291. Afterwards he commented, ‘To be honest I’m glad to be done. It was a struggle. I basically played 70 holes of this tournament not at 100 per cent, so it was always going to be tough. Still, I made some good play out there in the last few days and birdied the last.
‘Now I’m just looking forward to a couple of weeks off, and you know, get rested up and get ready for the end of the season.’
It would be a more successful time for Rory in that ‘end of season’ period. He won the Shanghai Masters after a tense playoff against Anthony Kim at the end of October 2011. The victory also brought him a winner’s purse of $2million (£1.25million) – the richest prize in golf. It was the third playoff of Rory’s career and his first event since dropping Chubby Chandler as his manager for Horizon. Afterwards, Rory said, ‘I’ve been close in two or three tournaments and had two thirds and two seconds and was finally able to get myself over the line today. This was the third play-off of my career, and I was able to win this one, so at least my record in these events is getting better. I am just delighted to get another win.’
A couple of weeks later he finished tied for 4th at HSBC Champions but, more importantly, moved up to world No 2 in the rankings, at the time his highest ever ranking. And in December 2011, he rounded off a pivotal year in his career development in style by triumphing in the Hong Kong Open by two strokes with a closing round of 65. Rory sank five birdies in a bogey-free final round at the Hong Kong Golf Club to record a final score of 12 under par and finish two shots clear of playing partner Gregory Havret.
Rory admitted the win meant ‘something special’ to him. He said, ‘I’ve loved this city, this golf course, this tournament ever since my first Hong Kong Open in 2007. I felt like it owed me something after the playoff in 2008. I had to wait a few years for it to finally happen – but to get my hands on this trophy now and to win this tournament is very special.
‘No matter how prestigious tournaments are, you always have your favourite, and this is definitely one of my favourite tournaments and to be able to win it is fantastic. I couldn’t be happier.’
It had certainly been some year, what with his first major win at the US Open, after the earlier disappointment of the Masters blow-up, and the subsequent ones in the Open and the PGA. To end 2011 on a high meant a lot to Rory – and now he was determined to go out and add a second major to his bow in 2012.
But it would not be easy – just as landing that first major at the US Open had taken hard graft and emotional ups and downs after he had lost his mojo at the Masters. In his first tournament of 2012 he would show his encouraging form from the end of 2011 was continuing as he finished runner-up in a strong field at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. Up against the likes of Tiger Woods, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, Rory ended up just a single stroke behind eventual winner Robert Rock, from England.
Rory was pleased with the outcome, saying, ‘It’s a good start to the year. It’s nice to go out there in the final round of the first tournament you play with a chance to win. I could have maybe made a few more of the opportunities that I presented myself, but I played solid enough out there.’
It was the second year in a row he had finished second in the event, and he summed it all up by saying ‘it was something good to build on’ for 2012.
Indeed it was, and by March, Rory was roaring as he won the Honda Classic, a win that propelled him to the ranking of world No 1 for the first time. It was all the sweeter as he held off a determined, on-form Woods to lift the trophy. Woods hit a 62, the lowest final round of his career to heap the pressure on Rory. But the wunderkind coped admirably to maintain his place at the top of the leaderboard.
The tournament’s own press department swiftly pushed out a release summing up Rory’s achievements, ‘He poured in the 8-foot birdie putt on the 13th for a two-shot lead. He gouged out a wedge from grass so deep he could barely see the ball to save par on the 14th, and he twice saved par from the bunker on the scary par 3s for a 1-under 69 and a two-shot win.
‘[By doing so] McIlroy became the 16th player to be No 1 since the world ranking began in 1986, and the fourth player in the last 16 months since Woods abdicated the top spot after a five-year reign. McIlroy replaced Luke Donald and became the second-youngest player to be No 1 behind Woods, who was 21 when he first got to the top after the 1997 U.S. Open.
‘Additionally, McIlroy moves into the top five in the FedExCup standings for the first time in his young career, checking in at No 4.’
Rory was hitting form as the 2012 season began to shape up and he celebrated his win by flying to New York to spend time with his girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki. Before he jetted off, he outlined what the win meant to him and how he hoped it would now lead to greater things. He said, ‘It was always a dream of mine to become the world No 1 and the best player in the world or whatever you want to call it. But I didn’t know what I would be able to get here this quickly. Hopefully, I can hold on to it for a little longer.’
Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington had no doubts that Rory was now here to stay at the top of the rankings. He paid tribute to the youngster, saying, ‘There’s very few players as good at him at his age out there winning tournaments. There are guys with potential, but he’s already delivered. And he has a good balance in his life. He doesn’t look like a guy who is going to burn out. He looks like he’s going to be here for a while.’
The Masters was just a month away and the press corps and the public were, inevitably, wondering how he was feeling about his return to Augusta after his very public blow-up the previous year. Presumably the win in the Honda Classic would lift his spirits and help him overcome any nerves or fears that he might suffer a similar meltdown this time round? Would he be changing anything in his preparations? Rory answered confidently, saying, ‘To be honest I’m approaching it similar to last year. I’m taking three weeks off before the Masters to prepare. I’ll go up to Augusta the week before and play a couple of practice rounds, and if I can do the exact same thing this year as I did last year for 63 holes, I’ll be doing OK. So hopefully I can do that again, and if I could get myself in that position, maybe finish it off a little better like I did at the Honda today.’
But his run-in to the Masters went off course in the next two tournaments. He finished third in the Cadillac Championship in Miami, two strokes behind Justin Rose and was gutted when Luke Donald took the world No 1 title back off him after his friend won the Transitions Championship. Donald finished his final round at Innisbruck in Florida with a 5-under 66 and then triumphed in a four-man playoff against Jim Furyk, Robert Garrigus and Sang-Moon Bae.
Donald was delighted to have won back the No 1 spot after a couple of weeks. It was his fifth win in his last 31 events – and it meant he would stay at the top of the pile until the Masters at Augusta. Rory was down but honourable enough to tweet his congratulations to Donald. ‘Well I enjoyed it while it lasted! Congrats @LukeDonald! Impressive performance!’ he said on Twitter.
Donald was just as gracious, saying, ‘I’m sure he got a taste of the view and I’m sure he’ll want more of it. He’s a great player. I think golf is in a good spot right now. There’s a lot of excitement going on.’
That excitement would ramp up several notches as Rory and the cream of the world’s golfers now descended upon Augusta for the 2012 Masters. The big question on everyone’s lips was: Could Rory set out a similarly scorching pace as the previous year, but finish it this time?
The answer would be a despondent ‘No’ as Rory struggled to make his presence felt. He went into the weekend just one stroke off the lead but found the last two rounds difficult – and that is putting it mildly – as he eventually finished in a tie for 40th. It was not his finest hour and the UK papers were united in their criticism. Some even accused him of ‘choking’ as he had done the previous year when he appeared in an unassailable position.
The Sun led the way. ‘Rory McIlroy suffered yet another Masters meltdown in a flurry of shocking shots in round three. McIlroy wilted under the pressure a day earlier than last year, when his final-round 80 saw him throw away a four-shot lead. A triple bogey at the 10th was the flash-point for an awful back nine of 43 a year ago,’ the paper reported.
‘This time he imploded on the front nine, opening with a double bogey as he played them in 42 – six over par. McIlroy again cut a forlorn figure as he kept leaking away shots, throwing in another double bogey at the seventh hole, sandwiched by bogeys at five and eight. So after setting out just a shot off the lead, McIlroy found himself consigned to the also-rans, one over for the tournament and a horrifying five over for the day.’
A visibly deflated Rory said afterwards, ‘It was a disappointing weekend, just one of those things. I played pretty well over the first couple days and then just came out on Saturday and really didn’t get it right in that front nine, and that killed me for the rest of the tournament. But I’ll come back next year and try my best again.’
It was turning into a topsy-turvy season of highs and lows as Rory tried to keep up his momentum when he had it, and not let the disappointments weight too heavily upon him. But it was proving a most difficult balancing act as the campaign progressed. For instance, after the Masters letdown he regained the world No 1 ranking in the middle of April – but lost it again to Donald at the end of the same month.
Then, in the first tournament of May 2012, the Wells Fargo Championship, Rory finished a creditable runner-up to Rickie Fowler – which meant he once again returned to the summit of the world rankings. Inexplicably, though, Rory then went on to miss the cut in his next three tournaments – the Players Championship in Florida, the PGA Championship at Wentworth and the Memorial Tournament in Ohio – which, of course, would once again cost him the No 1 spot.
One of the lowest points of the campaign came in June when Rory failed to make the cut at the US Open, the event that had propelled him into legend when he had won it – and his first major – a year previously. The Telegraph neatly summed up his anguish with the headline – ‘Rory McIlroy’s latest cut is the deepest of all’. And BBC Sport put it all into its full grim perspective, ‘Defending champion Rory McIlroy…missed the cut at the US Open after failing to recover from a poor first round. World number two McIlroy missed out by two shots after carding a three-over-par 73 to finish 10 over. McIlroy struggled from the outset in San Francisco and carded 77 in round one. McIlroy won by eight shots and broke a host of scoring records when he finished on 16 under at a rain-softened Congressional 12 months ago but the 23-year-old was unable to cope with the firmer, faster conditions of Olympic’s Lake Course.’
Afterwards, Rory admitted he was ‘obviously disappointed’. He said, ‘It wasn’t the way I wanted to play. I left myself with a lot of work to do after yesterday’s round, and to overall I don’t feel like I played that badly for the last two days.
‘It’s just such a demanding golf course and just punishes the slight test shot that’s off line or that’s maybe not the right distance or whatever and that’s how I feel. You really have to be so precise out there – if you’re not, you’re going to get punished. We’re just not used to playing this sort of golf course week-in, week-out.
‘We’re not used to having to land balls before the edge of the greens to let them run on. It’s just something that you have to adjust to in this tournament. I wasn’t able to do that very well this week. It hasn’t been the greatest run over the last six weeks, or whatever it is, but I still see enough good stuff in the rounds that gives me hope that I’m not very far away.’
Hope, Rory may have had – but that certainly did not translate into drastically improved finishes as he struggled to get back to the level of excellence he had achieved at the US Open in 2011. When the Open at Lytham came around in July 2012, there was renewed optimism that Rory might finally put it all together at once. But again, there was only disappointment as he finished tied for 60th, finishing with a dismal eight over par.
Rory said, ‘My game wasn’t there. It was pretty good on the first day but after that I struggled and couldn’t find anything. I’m obviously disappointed. It is hard to make up shots on this golf course. I felt coming into the tournament I was playing pretty well, but when you try to force it and press things trying to get momentum, it just doesn’t work.’
Rory denied that he had a mental hang-up about the Open – or that his constant underperformances in the event were because he felt it was the hardest to win. He said, ‘I feel like I can win in any given week if I play well. I think they’re all equal. I don’t think there’s any major that’s harder to win than another. You’ve just got to beat the other guys that are playing. I treat them all equally and just try and do the best I can.’
His fans were beginning to despair of him ever recapturing his best form, but Rory is a battler and he put in extra hours on the tee practising and streamlining his strokes as he attempted to put things right. He told his close friends that he believed he was on the way to winning again – and that he still believed he would triumph at another major soon.
If he were to do that in 2012, he would have to be quick. The final major of the year was pencilled in to start just a couple of weeks after his poor showing at the Open in Lytham. Rory revved up for the US PGA by finishing tied for fifth at the Bridgestone Invitational in Ohio.
He arrived at Kiawah Island visibly more confident than he had seemed for weeks and it showed in his work as he performed majestically in 2012’s last major. Rory roared to victory, covering himself in glory and plaudits as, at last, he put the doubts and poor showings behind him to win the US PGA. The Mail’s Derek Lawrenson superbly summed up Rory’s achievement in the light of his previous ups and downs. ‘The summer of learning for Rory McIlroy and the state of flux in the sport he plays have both come to an end in the most emphatic of ways,’ he said.
‘Four days was all it took to restore order to the world of chaos. Four days of ruthless brilliance from McIlroy and the conversation has shifted from 16 different winners of 16 different majors to how many one man can win in the years to come.
‘One record-breaking win at the US PGA Championship on Sunday, and all foolish talk of Caroline Wozniacki being some sort of Yoko-like distraction (younger readers, ask your dad) has been thankfully buried.’
Rory achieved the vital win by finishing 67-66 to end 13 under on a tough course. He won the tournament by a record eight strokes – overwhelming the previous one held since 1980 by Jack Nicklaus, who triumphed by seven. The tearing up of the history books didn’t end there – Rory had also become the youngest player to win two majors since Seve Ballesteros won the 1980 Masters Tournament, and the sixth youngest of all time. The US PGA victory also helped him regain the coveted world No 1 ranking.
Nick Faldo was one of the first to offer his congratulations to Rory – and to outline how he believed the Irishman was heading for true golfing greatness. Faldo said, I think we saw at Kiawah, as we did at the US Open last year, that he is a very special golfer. I didn’t win my first major until I was 30 and yet here he is at 23, with all that knowledge of winning already gained.
‘The only other golfers in recent times to win two majors at his sort of age were Tiger, Jack and Seve and that’s exactly where Rory should be ranked. He is that good.’
Before the event Rory had admitted ‘taking his eye off the ball’ during that lean spell that led to three consecutive failings to make the cut earlier in the year. Afterwards, he was a much relieved young man and said he was ‘just glad it had all turned out right’ after so many ups and downs and harsh criticisms he had experienced in 2012.
He said, ‘I just had a good feeling about the week. Earlier in the summer I was frustrated with how I was playing but a few people pushed panic buttons for no reason and it did motivate me. I don’t think I could have answered the criticism in a better way. To call myself a multiple major Champion…I feel very privileged to join such an elite list of names.
‘And to win my second major and get to world No 1 all in the same day is very special.’
Very special indeed – and Rory would now go on to win three more tournaments before 2012 became 2013. He finished top of the leaderboard in the Deutsche Bank Championship, in Massachusetts, almost three weeks after the US PGA and also won the BMW Championship in Indiana at the start of September and was crowned the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai at the end of November.
In between those three triumphs, Rory would also play his part as Europe retained the Ryder Cup in Medina. The win was all the more satisfying as the Europeans had looked to be out of it as the final day of play dawned. Europe produced a brilliant comeback to win the trophy. The United States had needed just four-and-a-half points from the 12 available on the day, but Rory and Co grabbed a magnificent eight and a half of them to clinch victory from the jaws of what had seemed certain defeat in a 14½-13½ win. Rory saw off the challenge of the talented Keegan Bradley 2&1 as Europe won it on the final day.
Rory said the celebrations went on late into the night and told how he had enjoyed the comradeship. He said, ‘To bring this group of guys together; to all play for the same cause; we win together, we lose together, and luckily the last two Ryder Cups, we have won together.
‘I said this at the start of the week – there’s nothing better than celebrating a win with your team-mates. We don’t get to do it very often, and it’s just so nice to have these guys around and to celebrate it with them.’
Of his own performance on the last day of play, Rory added, ‘I was just happy to get a point to help the team. When I saw the match-up I liked it, I liked playing one of their strongest players.’
It had been a great second-half of the campaign in 2012 as Rory romped to those four individual wins and the triumph at the Ryder Cup. It was sometimes easy to forget that he was still only 23!
After a relaxing Christmas and New Year, Rory was determined to win another major in 2013. But the plan did not materialise as Rory would have hoped. In four tournaments on the PGA Tour, he had won none and secured just one top ten finish – when he was runner-up in the Texas Open. In The Masters, he had ended up in a disappointing tie for 25th. He had also missed the cut in the European Tour’s HSBC Championship in Abu Dhabi in the January.
And in February, 2013, Rory was lambasted when he withdrew from the Honda Classic, saying he had been suffering toothache. His critics had claimed that was not the problem, that the toothache was a smokescreen – and that he was actually struggling to make his mark with the new clubs he was now using.
Initially, Rory had defended his decision to withdraw, saying, ‘This is one of my favourite tournaments of the year and I regret having to make the decision to withdraw, but it was one I had to make.’
But later he would concede that he had made a mistake walking off the green at the event. He said, ‘I realised pretty quickly it was not the right thing to do. I regret what I did. It won’t happen again. There is no excuse for quitting. No matter how bad I was playing, I should have stayed out there. I should have tried to shoot the best score possible even though it probably wasn’t going to be good enough to make the cut.
‘I have been struggling with my lower right wisdom tooth for over a year. So, yeah, my tooth was bothering me, but it wasn’t bothering me enough to probably quit. But that’s just the way it is.’
At least he had been big enough and honest enough to admit his error. He was one of sport’s good guys and he would be back on track soon; of that he was certain. As 2013 progressed Rory McIlroy was determined to add to the two majors he had already clinched at such a tender age. No one doubted that he would do so – and that there would be many more over the years. He was still golf’s No 1 at the age of 23 – and intended to stay there for years to come: Rory McIlroy was a legend in the making. No doubt about that.