Thirteen months ago, Rory McIlroy was just a good golfer. A very good golfer. But scratch the surface a little and there was an anguished person. He had been chasing the green jacket for 14 years, if you take as a reference the 2011 edition when he entered as leader in the last nine holes and covered them in 43 strokes. He came out crying with a card of 80. A very hard blow. Every year it was the same. “Do you think you’re missing something in your career?” It was a question that was a shot in the dark.He also had a hectic life. He was associated with a relationship with CBS presenter Amanda Balionis, and his marriage to Erica Stoll seemed like a set-up. He mentioned it in passing, but implied that they stayed together for the sake of their daughter Poppy. He had never been a stable guy in that sense. He had abandoned the relationship with Carolina Wozniacki, the Danish tennis player, with the wedding invitations ordered and by WhatsApp
His verbal incontinence also got him into a lot of trouble. He was harshly critical of LIV Golf. “If it was the last place to play golf on Earth, I’d retire,” he said. He made enemies everywhere. And he didn’t yet have enough authority to get up on a pulpit and be taken seriously. He was even the weakest part of the partnership with Tiger Woods that had launched a simulator league that was a coin toss.It was winning the green jacket, in one of the most emotional passages ever seen at Augusta National and everything that has happened has brought happiness to his life. Except for the passage he suffered at Bethpage Black with the American fans in the Ryder Cup, although the victory there, sealed by his close friend Shane Lowry – even that makes him smile – every issue he has tackled has been satisfactory.
“It’s incredible that I’ve spent half my professional career chasing a victory at the Masters and now I have two in a row,” he said in the Butler Cabin, the first place where he is invested as a winner before doing so officially in front of the public.
That notch is the most visible of many. It was symptomatic of last year, Poppy, the daughter, came out between Rory and Erica in all the photos. On Sunday, April 12, 2026, in the photo they were glued to each other and she was the second person he hugged and kissed after the girl. He talks a lot about the little girl, but also now slips that he watches series like ‘Love Story’ with his wife. Erica stayed on Sunday next to Rory’s parents, whom she has always thanked for their dedication and for doubling shifts to ensure that their son reached where he has come in golf. That’s why he insisted so much that they come this year to Augusta. Last year they followed him in Holywood (Ireland), from a distance.Although he does not stop throwing some darts at Jon Rahm, for example, and his pulse with fines, he tries to be conciliatory. He knows the importance of him and Tyrrell Hatton in the 2027 Ryder Cup, which will be played in his country, Ireland, at Adane Manor. The simulator league, which is broadcast by ESPN, has consolidated on Monday nights with an average audience of 600,000 viewers. With $13 million, he is the golfer who has earned the most money in the history of the Masters, ahead of Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. You can’t ask for more.
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