Rory McIlroy has always had the physical talent to dominate golf tournaments.
Early on, he pulverized fields with the confidence and swagger that typically defines youth. The Northern Irishman fed off the crowds, their injection of energy often propelling him to new heights, including four major titles.
But as the innocence of youth faded, major championship heartbreaks piled up, and McIlroy, as we all do, evolved. As he changed on the course and grew off it, he searched for different ways to consistently get the most out of his world-class game and dominate fields consistently.
McIlroy arrived the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last week armed with a new golf ball, a sharpened swing and a plan of attack borrowed from watching World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler levitate above everyone else in golf for the past two years. That combination helped him waltz to a two-shot victory over Shane Lowry to claim his 27th career PGA Tour title.
“I’m a big admirer of Scottie’s for a lot of different reasons, but every time I play with him, and I watch how he plays and how disciplined he is, it’s a really cool thing to watch,” McIlroy said. “And I’ve alluded to it this week, but honestly, just trying to take a little bit of a leaf out of his book.
“I think when one of your peers has the year like he had last year, and honestly the year like he had in ’23 as well, you start to take notice at what is he doing and what has made him or helped him separate himself from the rest of the fields. To me, those are the two big things that he does better than anyone else. It takes a certain mindset to do that, too. There’s impulses that I have on the golf course that it looks like Scottie doesn’t have and I have to rein those in and I have to try to be a little more disciplined about it and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Those impulses are ingrained in McIlroy. He wants to hit the exciting shot and take the bold line. But now, at age 35, he admits that those desires to thrill himself and his awed onlookers are not always in line with his primary aspiration: to win at a relentless clip and do it on the biggest stages.
To achieve that, McIlroy believes it’s essential that he calm his mind and play lethal, “boring” golf. That’s golfing evolution in the flesh.
“I think if I didn’t have the same impulses, people maybe wouldn’t like to watch me play as much,” McIlroy said after his win at Pebble Beach. “I do feel that connection to the crowd of, you know, hitting certain shots or doing certain things that people get — I get enjoyment out of them, too — but people watching get enjoyment out of it also.
“But I also understand that that maybe isn’t the best way to consistently win golf tournaments. At this point in my career that’s what I want to do, I want to consistently win golf tournaments. Ten years ago, with a three-shot lead on the 18th hole here, would I hit 5-iron off the tee? Probably not. Just understanding the scenario and what I needed to do, it was a different case today.”
McIlroy’s course management and decision-making have often undermined his all-world talent. He knows this better than anyone and has set out to fortify the mental aspect of his game so that his skill can take over.
That new mindset passed the first test at Pebble Beach. McIlroy opened with a bogey-free round at Spyglass Hill and then rose up the leaderboard with a flawless seven-under 65 in tough conditions on moving day. McIlroy began the final round one shot back of 54-hole leader Sepp Straka, but he quickly jumped in front and hit the gas with an eagle on the par-5 14th to run away from the rest of the field.
“I think the one thing that I did today really well is I didn’t get too flustered, and it certainly feels a little more boring to me. It might look a little bit more boring on the golf course, but it’s definitely more effective,” McIlroy said. “That’s something that I’m consciously trying to do a little bit better of a job at. Today was a good test, and I was able to come through it pretty well.
“I think it comes with age, it comes with experience, it comes with a little bit of maturity,” McIlroy later said. “I feel like over the past few years I’ve been able to not get frustrated as easily at things that I can’t control, whether it be the golf course or the conditions or things like that.”
Walking up the 18th fairway with the tournament in hand, McIlroy, golf’s top needle-mover (non-Tiger Division), turned to his caddie, Harry Diamond, and expressed the confidence that comes when talent intersects with experience and self-belief.
“Start as you mean to go,” McIlroy said he told Diamond.
Asked what that means to him after the win, McIlroy pointed to his convincing win at one of golf’s hallowed grounds. The performance he put on at Pebble Beach? That should become the norm no matter the arena he finds himself in, because he’s now singularly focused on blending skill with a calm mind and killer instinct, which should help Rory McIlroy be the best version of Rory McIlroy.
“For the most part, over the course of my career, I’ve had the physical attributes and hit the ball long and been able to do things that maybe some other guys aren’t able to do, but it’s sometimes been my mind, or my thought processes held me back a little bit,” McIlroy said.
“I think I’m much better equipped now to handle whatever is thrown my way.”
