Rory McIlroy admits he shed a tear after his Sunday back-nine collapse at the Masters.
“I didn’t actually cry, not until the next morning,’ McIlroy said, according to Reuters. “I didn’t even speak to Mum and Dad until then. (There) might have been something they said like ‘It’ll be OK’ but I said ‘No, it won’t be OK.’'
As Rory McIlroy walked off the 18th green at Augusta National this past April, he approached the clubhouse between two lines of patrons, media and his closest friends. As he wiped his brow and a tear from his eye, the last to greet him was now ex-girlfriend Holly Sweeney with a peck to the cheek.
In the moment, the Ulsterman did not believe he would recover.
“At the time I felt it might be the only chance I had to win and I’ve blown it. I had so many thoughts and emotions going through my head that day,’ he said.
Two months later, McIlroy became the youngest U.S. Open champion since Bobby Jones in 1923 in a record-setting rout at Congressional. Backed by his father, McIlroy had something to prove.
“One of the big differences at the U.S. Open compared to Augusta was having Dad there at Congressional, and having breakfast with him on the Sunday,” he said. “We talked it through. He said the right things, saying that I had played so well for three rounds and to keep doing what you’re doing, and concentrate on what I can do in my own little bubble.’
McIlroy hopes to never be reduced to that kind of sadness again.
“Hopefully (next time) it will be tears of joy as golf is not worth crying over,” he said. “Besides it’s only a game!”
