Rory McIlroy wants to avoid Masters hangover

PHILADELPHIA — Winning the Masters last month and completing the career Grand Slam has lifted a burden from Rory McIlroy.

“The worst I felt on Sunday at Augusta was probably when I holed the birdie putt on 10 to go four ahead because I’m like, ‘Oh, I really can’t mess this up now.’ There’s that pressure,” he said on Wednesday ahead of his Truist Championship title defense. “You know that you’re not just trying to win another tournament, you’re trying to become part of history, and that has a certain weight to it… Look, I’m just glad that it’s done. I don’t want to ever have to go back to that Sunday afternoon again. I’m glad that I finished the way I did, and we can all move on with our lives.”

All the emotion involved in ending his nearly 11-year winless drought in majors poured out on the 18^th green after he sank the winning putt to beat Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff. 

“Sometimes in life you don’t know what you’re holding on to until you let it go,” mused ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt. “That burst of emotion was just astounding.”

In the aftermath, McIlroy celebrated in his native Northern Ireland with his parents and closest friends.

“I didn’t want any fanfare. I tried to keep it as private as possible,” he said. “I never get that emotional with my dad. It was great. It was great to see him. Then when I saw my mom, we were both a mess for a few minutes.”

McIlroy played in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans two weeks ago with Shane Lowry in the two-man team event but said he didn’t prepare properly and had to lean on his partner a bit too much. They finished T-12. McIlroy said he had a number of obligations to handle, including a media tour last week through New York City, which included appearances on the Tonight Show, but mixed in three days of rigorous practice with coach Michael Bannon in hopes of avoiding a post-Masters hangover.

The next chapter begins this week at a different venue from the one where he won this tournament last year. Quail Hollow in Charlotte will play host to the PGA Championship next week, and so Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course is stepping in for a one-year run on the PGA Tour.

“The last two times I’ve won the Truist Championship, I haven’t been able to defend on the same golf course the next year,” noted McIlroy noted, a four-time champion of this event who previously won in 2021 and defended at TPC Potomac the following year. “So it doesn’t quite feel like a defense, but it’s good to be here. It’s always at this stage of my career, it’s cool to come to new venues, see new golf courses, and do new things.”

McIlroy played nine holes on Tuesday and participated in the nine-hole pro-am on Wednesday and developed a simple strategy for this A.W. Tillinghast track (with a 2013 renovation by Keith Foster): send driver off the tee.

“It’s basically open season,” he said. “I go back to Oak Hill a couple years ago at the PGA, and I tried to play the golf course strategically over the first couple of days, and I just realized that these new renovated old school courses, like the strategy is just hit driver everywhere and then figure it out from there. That’s sort of the strategy of this place this week.”

And what did Justin Thomas think of McIlroy’s plan of attack?

“I would say that’s a good strategy for Rory at every golf course ever made is just to pull the driver out of the bag, unless it’s a par-3,” he said. “Just hit it because he hits it better than about anybody in the world.”