GOLF McIlroy sports new look in return

A ring on his finger. New clubs in his golf bag.

If marriage and a new equipment deal were not enough for Rory McIlroy, he also was presented with his own bobblehead for winning the FedEx Cup last year. That’s the only thing that made him feel old.

“All these wrinkles around my eyes,” McIlroy said Tuesday as he gazed at the doll. “It makes me look like I’ve been tour two decades instead of one.”

He is about to complete his 10th full year as a pro, and it’s been a reasonable ride. McIlroy, who turned 28 on Thursday, already has 21 victories around the world and four major championships.

But he’s gone through quite a bit since he tied for seventh at the Masters.

“I needed to address a few issues in between Augusta and here, and I did that with the first 10 days after Augusta,” McIlroy said.

That was related to his equipment, and McIlroy wound up with his fourth brand of clubs in the last five years. He left Titleist for Nike to start 2013, and when Nike got out of the club-making business last year, he began using Callaway. He still wasn’t entirely comfortable, especially with the golf ball, so McIlroy went back to testing and wound up signing a long-term deal with TaylorMade.

“I came to the conclusion that was the best way forward for me to try and improve, try and win more, try to get back to world No. 1, try to win more majors,” McIlroy said. “So I’m really excited about that.”

He was excited about his wedding, too.

McIlroy met his bride, Erica Stoll, nearly five years ago when she worked for the PGA of America in transportation for the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah. Stoll played a big part in sparing him major embarrassment when McIlroy forgot he was in the Central time zone and needed a police escort to the course. He got there with minutes to spare and won his match, and Europe staged a record-tying comeback. /

Career titles:

It seems like with everything that’s went on the last few weeks — with getting married and teaming up with TaylorMade — it seems like everything’s very settled. There’s not many question marks going on in my life right now. RORY MCILROY