ON MY DAY I’M BEST IN THE WORLD
Rory certain he will regain mojo
RORY McILROY insists he is not far off clambering his way back to the world No.1 spot.
The four-time Major champion heads to the CJ Cup event in LasVegas ranked 14th – seemingly a million miles off the summit.
But in the gambling capital of the world, McIlroy insists all he needs is a little bit of luck.
McIlroy said: “I think when I’m playing my best, I’m the best player in the world.
“I haven’t played like that for a while but I don’t feel I need to go that far back.
“When the pandemic hit 18 months ago, I was the No.1 player in the world, so I don’t have to look that far back to see my name at the top of the rankings.
“Obviously, the last 18 months haven’t been what I wanted them to be. But if you keep it in perspective I’m not that far away.
“There’s a ton of great players out there. The talent pool just gets deeper every year.”
The 32-year-old from Holywood, County Down, who has not landed a Major since 2014, agreed that sometimes he is his own biggest critic.
“I try to play if off with saying, ‘Golf doesn’t define me and I’ve got balance in my life and that I’m happy away from the course.’ That’s true but, if I’m honest, sometimes I sort of maybe use that as a way to lessen the blow if I don’t play good golf.
“There’s a lot of chance in winning a golf tournament, so many things that have to fall in your favour.”
McIlroy admitted he was shocked at his post-Ryder Cup tears after the Americans thrashed Europe’s finest last month.
The Northern Ireland star, who was dropped at Whistling Straits and sat out a session for the first time in his career, said: “Yeah, it did surprise me. I don’t normally get that emotional about golf.
“But it’s a very emotionally-charged week. I think it was a good thing for me. I maybe realised a couple of things about myself that I hadn’t seen.
“Well, maybe I had known but maybe I’d been trying to keep it down and not let them out – I don’t know.
“I was surprised how emotional I got, but after a bit of reflection over the past weeks, I realised why I did get that way.”
I’m not far away from being No.1