Rory’s resilience is his most overlooked quality
ALL that any sportsman can do after failure on an epic scale is sift through the debris and try to go again.
After the tears at the Ryder Cup and two weeks where his anger and introspection at his performance gave way to a clear-thinking plan, Rory McIlroy turned up in Las Vegas and showed once more the most overlooked quality in his considerable repertoire: resilience.
Just as he did on the final day at Whistling Straits, McIlroy defeated Open champion Collin Morikawa down the stretch on Sunday to lift the CJ Cup and claim a landmark victory on the PGA Tour.
This was his 20th title on the toughest circuit in the world and one that ought to give even his detractors pause for thought and think about what he has achieved rather than what he hasn’t.
To put that number in perspective, no other European in the last 80 years has come close. Indeed, the only non-American players who have achieved a higher number are Gary Player and Vijay Singh, as McIlroy pulled up alongside the Great White Shark himself, Greg Norman.
Let’s remember also that McIlroy is just 32. At the same age Phil Mickelson, with all his wondrous talent and the considerable advantage of playing in his home country each week, had mustered 21 titles and no majors.
McIlroy admitted in the wake of his poor showing in Wisconsin last month that his first instinct was to throw the clubs in the closet and tell the golfing world: see you in January.
‘I didn’t want to play golf again until 2022,’ he confessed on Sunday.
‘I get more emotional thinking about that Ryder Cup even now than winning here. Yeah, there was a lot of reflection the last couple of weeks and I came to the conclusion that this is what I need to do; play golf and simplify it all.
‘Just be me. I think for the past few months I was trying to be someone else to get better, and I sort of realised that being me is enough, and being me I can do things like this.’
Whether it will prove enough when the majors come around we will have to wait and see, but it was heartening to see him draw a line in the Nevada sand.
In a field boasting 10 of the world’s top 15 players, he did justice to his pre-tournament boast: ‘When I’m playing well, I still feel I’m the best around.’
Now he needs to build on it. Notch a couple more victories at least before we get around to the Masters next April.
To those who believe he can never solve that particular riddle and complete the career Grand Slam, or end his seven-year major drought in general, let his words to Sportsmail last month on the topic stand as his clarion call leading to Augusta: ‘I do believe that the best sports psychologist in the world is a square clubface at impact.’