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Have a rest, come back a champ

ON landmark anniversaries it’s natural to look back and reflect on how far you’ve come.

For Rory McIlroy, 28, his 10th year as a professional golfer must be spent working out how to sustain the same standards that defined his first decade at the top of his sport.

Even including two months in 2015 spent at home recovering from an ankle injury suffered playing football, this year has to go down as the most frustrating.

Sure he has plenty to be proud of as he looks back at the frizzy-haired youth who first signed his professional papers this very week in 2007.

As McIlroy recently said: “If someone said when I signed those forms I’d win four Majors over the next decade, play in three winning Ryder Cup teams, win the Race to Dubai three times, the US money list twice and the FedEx Cup, I’d have said, ‘Yeah, I’ll take that’.”

The story of the working class kid from Holywood on the outskirts of Belfast who became a world No.1 and global sporting phenomenon is worthy of celebration.

It’s just that right now there’s not much to savour at the end of a season that fell short of McIlroy’s lofty standards.

His 58th at last weekend’s BMW Championship saw his PGA Tour season come to a premature end as he failed to qualify for the final event of the FedEx Cup he clinched last year in stunning style.

With his exit came a drop down the world rankings to eighth – the lowest he has been in six years.

His loss will be the European Tour’s gain as he has now entered the field for next week’s British Masters event at Close House, followed of course by the Dunhill Links at the start of October before putting himself in cold storage for three months. That will provide a much-needed opportunity to take the time to finally banish the niggling discomfort that has plagued him all year since a stress fracture of his ribs curtailed the early part of his season.

Mentally as much as physically this period of rest could be exactly what McIlroy needs to recharge his batteries ahead of another Ryder Cup year. He need only look outside golf to another iconic sporting success story – Roger Federer.

This time last year most observers thought the greatest ever tennis player was finished.

Without a Grand Slam win in five years, his decision to take six months off to heal wounds and regather his hunger was seen as the beginning of the end.

They were half right. It was the beginning of a renaissance that saw Federer bounce back in March with an Australian Open triumph. Again people thought he’d lose his edge when he took another sabbatical, sacrificing the entire clay court season and its prestigious highlight, the French Open.

But Federer knew what he was doing – getting his priorities right to ensure his best possible preparation to knock off a record-setting 19th Slam title at Wimbledon in July.

Perhaps McIlroy has taken a leaf out of Federer’s book to get back on track for a stellar 2018.

The strains on athletes’ bodies are more vigorous than ever. Just ask Tiger Woods, Andy Murray or Novak Djokovic.

There’s an old saying that a change is as good as a rest. If McIlroy wants to still be going as strong for the next 10 years and beyond, he’ll be wise to recognise when to stop and take a breath from time to time.