‘What are we going to talk about next year?’: Why Rory McIlroy’s Masters mania will be hard to beat

By Don Riddell, CNN

(CNN) — Rory McIlroy began his champion’s press conference at the Masters not with an answer, but with a question.

Addressing the hundreds of sportswriters who’ve been covering his professional career over the last 17 years, he extended his arms in his new green jacket and asked: “What are we going to talk about next year?”

For so many years, the prevailing narrative ahead of many Masters tournaments has been that this could be Rory’s year.

This week, because he had made his best-ever start to a PGA Tour season, it felt as though this could really be McIlroy’s year.

But every time anybody else thought it would be his time, that only ratcheted up the pressure on a man who has famously battled his own demons.

“You’ve had Jack (Nicklaus), Gary (Player), Tom (Watson), Tiger (Woods), you name it, all come through here and say that I’ll win The Masters one day,” he said.

“These are idols of mine, and it’s very flattering that they believe in my abilities to win this tournament and achieve the grand slam,” he chuckled. “But it doesn’t help! I wish they didn’t say it!”

McIlroy’s nickname is Rors, he writes it in all capital letters on every golf ball that he tees up, and the roar that burst from his chest when he sunk the winning putt on Sunday was primal.

“There wasn’t much joy in that reaction,” he said. “It was all relief. It was a decade plus of pent-up emotion that came out of me.”

The patrons who witnessed the tidal wave of feelings that swept McIlroy off his feet on the 18th green knew exactly why he was so overcome; they could understand why his body was on its knees, heaving and convulsing.

The Masters is the only major tournament that is played on the same golf course every year, and many of the spectators here on Sunday would have witnessed his epic meltdown in 2011, when McIlroy blew a seemingly comfortable third-round lead.

His collapse was so monumental that he went from leading the tournament as he made the turn on Sunday, to limping home in a tie for 15th place.

By the time he made it back to the clubhouse, the expectant throng had deserted him, the journalists who walked with McIlroy every step of the way that day have described the experience as funereal.

He’s spent the 14 years since that day trying to redeem himself, and the last 11 years trying to join the titans of the game – Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Player, Nicklaus and Woods as the only men to win all four major tournaments in the modern era and complete the career slam.

Those patrons knew and understood McIlroy’s journey and the psychological trauma he’s since endured, and he knew that every year that passed him by would only make it harder to finally succeed.

When asked by CNN Sports if he could travel back in time to that 2011 evening to speak to himself, what he would see and what he would say, he paused to formulate both his thoughts and his emotions.

“I would see a young man that didn’t really know a whole lot about the world,” he said. “A young man with a lot of learning to do and a lot of growing up to do. In 2011, I didn’t understand why I got myself in a great position and I didn’t understand why I let it slip.

“I would say to him, ‘Just stay the course, just keep believing.’ And I would say that to any young girl or boy that’s listening to this. I’ve literally made my dreams come true today, and I would say, ‘Believe in your dreams, and if you work hard enough and put the effort in, you can achieve anything you want.’”

But the story of Sunday was about so much more than just the historical accomplishment.

It was over four hours of nerve-wracking drama and one of the most extraordinary sporting events witnessed in recent times.

McIlroy admits that he was initially overwhelmed by the moment. He said that he was “unbelievably nervous” in the morning, that his legs felt like jelly on the first tee, he had a knot in his stomach and his appetite had deserted him to the point that he had to force his food down.

His emotional state manifested itself with a disastrous start, as his two-shot lead evaporated immediately with a double bogey.

At any other point in his recent career, this could have been a terminal setback, but he said that he felt the early mistake actually calmed him. But there were further moments of madness, another double bogey on 13 seemed like it might derail him completely.

Even his playing partner Bryson DeChambeau, who began the day in contention himself, said that he wanted to cry for McIlroy when his ball plunged into Rae’s Creek.

Several times during the afternoon, McIlroy demonstrably crumpled under the intolerable weight of expectation, and he sometimes looked to be on the verge of tears.

And yet, he kept bouncing back, defying anybody who lost faith and gave up on him, producing a series of audacious career-defining shots to stay in the fight.

“My battle today was with myself,” he said. “It wasn’t with anyone else.”

But even when it seemed as though he’d weathered his own internal tempest, another misstep on the 72nd hole threatened to sink him for good.

His Ryder Cup teammate Justin Rose had been quietly tearing up the course with six birdies on the second nine, storming back into contention from seven shots behind, meaning that McIlroy had to now navigate a nervy playoff.

But once again, he recovered his composure, sinking a birdie putt on the first extra hole to win his most elusive tournament, cementing his place in the history books and completing one of the most emotional and extraordinary narrative arcs in all of sports.

Sarazen, Hogan and Woods had completed the grand slam at their first opportunity, Nicklaus and Player at their third, but McIlroy had suffered through a decade of trying before finally making it at the 11th attempt. Not only that, he also became the first player in Masters history to win the green jacket after making four double bogeys during the span of the tournament.

Some sportswriters had previewed the day by saying that it would be the most terrifying round of golf in his life, and by the end of it, he couldn’t deny it.

“It was one of my toughest days I’ve ever had on the golf course,” he concurred. “I didn’t make it easy today, I certainly didn’t make it easy. There was points I thought, ‘Have I let this slip again?’ But I responded with clutch shots when I needed to and I’m really proud of myself for that. It’s been an emotionally draining week, a lot of rollercoaster rounds, and so just, you know, absolutely thrilled to be the last man standing.”

As one writer quipped to CNN, McIlroy’s demons had simply run out of holes – because, clearly, he still has mental challenges to wrestle with. But however he had managed it, “Rors” has finally triumphed to join a club so exclusive that nobody even thought to mention the $4.2 million prize.

It’s a shame that the history books won’t be able detail the emotional chaos of the last five hours of his odyssey to ascend to the pantheon of greats because it truly was one of the most titanic days in sports.

Who knows what we’ll talk about at the Masters next year, but that will surely be hard to beat!

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