Rory: Masters Collapse Might Have Been Chubby's Undoing!?

Brian Keogh, offering up highlights of a season-ending chat with Rory McIlroy, includes this from the lad about how the Masters Sunday collapse led to dramatic changes in his life.

Reflecting on the series of disasters that cost him the title, he said: “If that hadn’t happened and if I’d coasted and won the Masters, I’d never have learned the things I did learn about myself that day.”

He even concedes that his public humiliation may have played a part in his ditching of manager Chubby Chandler for Dublin based Horizon and a move to make more decisions for himself.

He said: “It might have set the wheels in motion in some way. I was getting advice from left, right and centre after the Masters. From people I was close to and from people that just wanted to offer some sort of help.

“I really had to filter everything through and try and make decisions myself. Sometimes I felt I let people make decisions for me instead of taking my career into my own hands and deciding this is what I want to do, this is where I want to go. That day at the Masters helped me do that.

“I think the biggest thing was listening to myself. You can take so much advice from so many different people. Actually listening to your own (inner voice). I said after the Masters I was very honest with myself and I needed to do some things with my golf game.

And if you want to see Rory hitting shots atop the most famous Dubai landmark from every conceivable angle in this week's publicity stunt, the Daily Mail has the page for you. Thanks to reader David for this.