RORY McILROY HAS admitted he has more important things in his life than golf ahead of this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Ballyliffin, hosted by his own foundation.
The world number eight recently got married to fiancée Erica and has revealed that his priorities have changed somewhat from when he first broke onto the professional scene back in 2007.
Back then he would have perhaps told you that golf was the be-all and end-all, such was his dedication to the sport. Arguably it did pay off, four Majors would attest to that, but now things have shifted.
No longer is his priority birdies and eagles, instead McIlroy is looking to the future off the course, while still ensuring he’s keeping focused on matters on it at the same time.
He began: “If I didn’t win another Major for the rest of my career, nothing is going to change in my life whether I win one or not, but obviously I don’t feel like I’ll have fulfilled my potential.
“But at the same time, there are other things in my life that are more important than golf.”
When asked when that change came, McIlroy continued: “I think I’ve always had other interests and I’ve always had things that have been a big part of my life. But yeah, I think getting married and thinking about the future and what that entails, that’s huge.
“I think as you get older and as you evolve as a person, you change and your perspective on things changes a bit. It’s not just the golf nowadays, there’s a lot more that goes into it.
“It’s still my career, and I still want to make the most of it and I still feel like I have a lot of time to make my mark on golf, but at the same time it doesn’t keep me up at night thinking, if I never won another Major, I can’t live with myself.”
Indeed, somewhat surprisingly, the 29-year-old also reveals that his goals for the year have been rather tamed as opposed to trying to make them as optimistic as possible.
“My goal this year wasn’t to win Majors,” he confesses. “It was just to give myself a chance and to put myself in positions to see how I’d fare.”
With all the pressure firmly on his shoulders going into his own home tournament — that he also just so happens to host — there’s an expectation that McIlroy will be in the hunt going into the final day.
He’s been in that position before this season many times: Dubai, Bay Hill, Wentworth and most famously Augusta have all seen him in contention on Sunday, and yet it’s only yielded one win so far.
His record at the Irish Open isn’t exactly stellar either. Despite that win at The K Club two years ago, it’s safe to say McIlroy hasn’t quite performed on home turf as well as he would have liked.
Last year he missed the cut at Portstewart, but this year the Holywood man is not accepting any excuses if he doesn’t make the most of the perfect conditions at Ballyliffin.
“I’ve cut back on a few things off the golf course,” he revealed. “It’s not that we’re not doing them, I’m just maybe not as involved in some of the stuff.
“There’s been a couple of times where I just haven’t felt as prepared as I could have been walking onto the first tee on Thursday. So I got here on Monday morning, practiced all day Monday afternoon. Was here (Tuesday) at 8.
“I’ve done my work, there’s no excuse about not being prepared. I felt I was underprepared at County Down and I felt okay at The K Club. I’ve learnt as I went along, and I feel this year I’m right where I need to be.
“(My game) feels pretty good. Once I get the ball in play, I can play. Iron play feels good. Short game feels good. Just need to hit the fairways this week and hopefully that gives me a bit of confidence going forward.”
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