“Rotella has channeled that in a very positive way” – Irish golfer Paul McGinley lauds Rory McIlroy's psychologist for his success
Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy executed an incredible turnaround this year and has improved his game, reaching World No. 1 again. He had suffered a rough patch last year, even being benched at the Ryder Cup for the first time in his career. Although he didn't secure a major this year, what he has managed to do this season is incredible.
Irish golfer Paul McGinley appreciated McIlroy's psychologist Bob Rotella for positively influencing McIlroy's life. He said that Rory McIlroy would have great opportunities next year as well.
"I am sure he is disappointed he has not won a major this year. But it would be a surprise if he did not have great opportunities again next year."
Bob Rotella and Rory McIlroy worked together on the mental aspect of the game, and the effort could be seen on the field.
McGinley told the Times:
"Rory’s been frontline in all the stuff off the course and Rotella has channelled that in a very positive way."
He added that McIlroy and Rotella had positively used energy.
"Michael Jordan found things he used as fuel and Rotella and McIlroy have used all that energy in a positive way too. All these things collided."
Rory McIlroy has the advantage of having laser focus. He is perseverant in his efforts to reach his goal, and with the graph he has been creating recently, he is not very far from it.
One thing that McIlroy missed out on this year was putting a major title in his kitty. McGinley mentioned that a major title was validation.
"The Masters was validation. Whether you’ve done something with your swing or psychologically, you need the results to validate what you are doing."
He added:
"He got that. It’s not a given that this will continue, and he will still have ups and downs, but he seems to have figured out a lot about himself."
"It's okay telling yourself mentally be strong and mentally play with freedom," - Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy has spoken about mental health a lot of times. Last year, he ended his 18-month drought after winning the Wells Fargo Championship. He stopped his downward spiral in the world rankings and leaped from the 15th to the 7th spot. He spoke about the process he had been working on last year.
"It's okay telling yourself mentally be strong and mentally play with freedom, but if you know you can't make a swing to hit a fairway, so you need to get the technical part right and then you can dial in the mental. That's sort of the process that I've been on."
His psychologist Bob Rotella is a renowned figure in sports. After analyzing his win in the championship, Rotella said that McIlroy's ability to stay in the game when things are not going as planned was the critical factor in his victory.
He said:
"He was presented to the world as someone who is just a great ball striker and that’s how he would dominate the game."
However, McIlroy hit three fairways at the championship, defying what people thought of him.
"But I saw him go out on Sunday [at Wells Fargo] and hit three fairways. He still won. Part of it is about not making up false narratives about having to hit everything perfectly. Golf is about hitting the ball and getting it in the hole. Sometimes it’s winning pretty and sometimes winning ugly, but you have to be able to love doing it both ways."
Rotella added that players needed to be young kids when playing golf.
"Guys can try so hard to win that it’s almost impossible. You have to get lost in your own little world and just play your game and I’m very into players getting back to being that young kid. You grow older and have advanced skills and advanced bodies, but can you still be the free kid who just loved to play golf?"
He added that Rory McIlroy's win at the Wells Fargo Championship was a great learning experience for him.
"Guys like Rory loved golf as kids, but this sport tries to beat you up and convince you that you’re not as good as everyone said you were, or you thought you were. The win last week was potentially a great learning experience for him. There’s a lot of different ways to win and if you can convince yourself of that in the mind you won’t become one-dimensional."
Certainly, Rory McIlroy has proved his mettle again this year by emerging as a dominant force. Although he has ended his competitive season, he will be next seen in 'The Match' in December, where he will team up with Tiger Woods and go against Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.