Tears are the watermarks that authenticate the highs and lows of Rory McIlroy’s career. Few sportsmen have spilled as many. But then few rise and fall with the epic force of McIlroy.
The latest flowed happily in celebration of his ninth ascent of the rankings hill, two years and three months since he last vacated the post.
As ever with this fella, the move seems to carry significance beyond the index it is intended to measure, coming as it does in the week of the final LIV Golf Invitational event of the year.
Of the many impactful moments that have shaped his life and career in the 27 months spent out of office; losing his game, becoming a father, trying to be Bryson DeChambeau, the Ryder Cup debacle, missing the cut in despair in Texas just six months ago, letting the Claret Jug slip through his fingers at St Andrews in July, the one that has consumed him most did not get a mention.
Living with LIV Golf has become like coping with an incurable illness, the insidious nature of the thing beats you into a kind of tolerable submission. It’s always there, you develop a strategy that works, but you can’t bring yourself to talk about it every bloody day.
Whether McIlroy’s 23rd PGA Tour victory at the CJ Cup in South Carolina, his third tournament win this year, is devalued in the absence of the top end LIV rebels is a moot point. What is undeniable is the symbolic importance of McIlroy’s alpha return for the side he represents in the internecine struggle.
The LIV disruptors conclude their inaugural year in a gauche team event at Trump Doral in Miami. I hear you, the players and host are made for each other. Twelve teams of four will compete for a $50m (£44m) prize pot, the winning squad sharing $16m all the way down to the 12th, an impoverished combo that must make do with $250k a piece.
McIlroy collected $1.89m for his week’s work at Congaree Golf Club. Still big wedge, of course, but the yield of an ecosystem forged over time that plays by an agreed set of rules developed within a wider sporting framework.
You might think it absurd or even offensive for any athlete to trouser such a sum, but it is the result of a market system in accord with the way most see the world. Other elite sportsmen earn more and they don’t necessarily have to win to bank the cheque.
Official world golf rankings
- 1 Rory McIlroy
- 2 Scottie Scheffler
- 3 Cameron Smith
- 4 Patrick Cantlay
- 5 Jon Rahm
- 6 Xander Schauffele
- 7 Will Zalatoris
- 8 Justin Thomas
- 9 Collin Morikawa
- 10 Matt Fitzpatrick
Since the CJ Cup is just the sixth of the PGA Tour’s new season it maintains McIlroy’s record of winning every year on tour since 2010. Moreover it bookends a stellar 12 months which began with victory at this event in 2021 when he was a lowly 14th in the world rankings. The scale of the recovery inevitably tripped the McIlroy tear ducts.
“This tournament last year was the start of me trying to build myself back up,” McIlroy said. “I had a rough Ryder Cup. I was outside the top 10 in the world, not a position I’m used to being in. Just the steady climb to the summit and what it takes, not just me but everybody in the team, it’s not a solo effort.
“A lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes that people don’t know about which is just as important as what I do out there to get these wins. Whenever I think about that it gets me chocked up and emotional.”
When prompted McIlroy rattled off a list that began with his wife, daughter, parents, caddie, manager, and went on down the food chain, each valued contributor name-checked with due deference and respect.
There is never a sense that McIlroy is anything but genuine in these moments, the candour and thoughtfulness hallmarks of his character. You can see why the PGA Tour is pleased to have him on its side, an authentic figurehead on and off the course.
And he is not finished yet. McIlroy continues his assault on our senses next month at the finale of the DP World Tour in Dubai, where he seeks to complete the order of merit double on both sides of the Atlantic, not to mention strengthen his hold at the top of the world rankings.
