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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rory McIlroy has always been at his best when he freewheels it and simply lets his talent go on the golf course — circumstances be damned.
And now, here he is this week, about to play the PGA Championship, which begins Thursday at Quail Hollow, without stress or questions that need to be answered about his career or his game.
McIlroy’s historic victory at the Masters last month — a win that ended an 11-year winless drought in majors, earned him a first green jacket for his closet and completed the coveted career Grand Slam — may turn out to be the most liberating win a player has had in the history of the sport.
“I have achieved everything that I’ve wanted,’’ McIlroy said Wednesday. “I’ve done everything I’ve wanted to do in the game. I dreamed as a child of becoming the best player in the world and winning all the majors. I’ve done that. Everything beyond this, for however long I decide to play the game competitively, is a bonus.’’
Xander Schauffele, the defending PGA champion and, along with Scottie Scheffler, one of McIlroy’s playing partners for the first two rounds this week, said McIlroy’s breakthrough could be “scary for guys like us.’’
“If that was something that was holding him back and now he feels free, that could be a pretty scary thing,” Schauffele said.
It’s very possible that McIlroy now goes on a Tiger Woods-like tear.
If he wins this week, it would be his sixth career major championship and third PGA, and it would begin talk of a calendar Grand Slam, putting McIlroy halfway there with the big ballpark of Oakmont for the U.S. Open and the British Open at Royal Portrush on his home turf of Northern Ireland ahead.
Many wonder what McIlroy might do now that he’s reached this pinnacle, and whether his hunger will remain the same.
“I feel like I sort of burdened myself with the career Grand Slam stuff, and I want to enjoy this,’’ he said. “I’m still going to set myself goals. I want to still create a lot of other highlights, but I’m not sure if any other win will live up to what happened a few weeks ago. I sit here knowing that that very well could be the highlight of my career.’’
Fellow Irishman Padraig Harrington said it best when he told the Irish Golf Desk: “We’re all waiting to see, does [the Masters win] make Rory too relaxed? That’s a fascinating thing. We’ll wait and see.’’
Jon Rahm said he “would not be one bit surprised if this lifted a weight off his shoulders that could get him going on another run. A player of his caliber, you never know.’’
Rahm had a fascinating take on McIlroy when asked if he “ever doubted’’ McIlroy would eventually complete the Slam.
“If that Masters in ’11 had gone his way, I think he would have achieved so much more than he has already,’’ Rahm said, referring to McIlroy’s famous meltdown when he lost a four-shot lead in the final round. “It’s been a very difficult hurdle to overcome, and you could see his emotion towards the end just because his real first chance to win a major, how it went down.’’
Scheffler, a two-time Masters winner and the only player ahead of McIlroy in the world rankings, praised McIlroy’s fortitude to finally break through at Augusta.
“For a guy that’s had one of the best careers in the history of the game [and] for him to sit in here week in, week out and have to be asked about one single golf tournament, I’m sure can be a bit frustrating,’’ Scheffler said. “I’m sure that’s why there was so much emotion coming out of him. It takes a lifetime of work to be able to even have a chance to win major championships, let alone win all four of them. So, it was pretty cool to see.’’
McIlroy described his visceral reaction that went viral on the 18th green at Augusta as “involuntary.’’
“I’ve tried not to watch it a lot because I want to remember the feelings,’’ he said. “And I think when I rewatch a lot of things I then just remember of the visuals of the TV rather than what I was feeling and what I was seeing through my own eyes.
“So, I haven’t tried to watch it back too much. But anytime I have, I well up. I still feel like I want to cry. I’ve never felt a release like that before, and I might never feel a release like that again. That could be a once-in-a-lifetime thing.’’
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