McIlroy's Shadow

The outlook for Rory is bright, but cloudy. Derek Clements analyses what 2015 could hold.

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RORY McILROY begins the year in good form, but still with a giant cloud in his life.

He finished second in the Abu Dhabi championship but it is The Masters at Augusta in April where it will really count - for that is when he will have his first chance to achieve a career grand slam.

And if he wins at Augusta he will hold three of golf's majors and will head then to the US Open with a huge media circus in tow, all waiting to see whether he can become only the second player to hold all four at the same time (Tiger Woods is the other).  Trust me - you really wouldn't want to be in his shoes if that happens. It will be a feeding frenzy and, sadly, much of the tabloid media will be looking for him to fail.

McIlroy won The Open and US PGA Championship last year, two of his four wins worldwide, as well as helping Europe retain the Ryder Cup and returned to the top of the world rankings. It means he is the man everybody wants to beat and it is a position with which he is more than comfortable.

It’s always a good sign when other players are talking about you,” he said. "I think with the performances that I put up last year that’s what happened. I feel that the way to continue to do that and have that so-called aura is to keep producing these performances consistently, so that’s the goal. It’s to get into contention as many times as possible, test your game under the heat of battle and see where you stand against everybody else.

“I obviously want to go into every golf tournament being the guy to beat and I want to be going into the Masters being that same guy. I know what to anticipate leading up to Augusta and for me it’s about trying to treat it the same way I have done and not put any more emphasis on it than there already is. It’s the first major of the year. People have been waiting for eight months for a major to come around. There’s so much build-up and hype going into Augusta anyway, so it’s just about making sure I’m as well prepared as I possibly can be going into that event.

“I feel like I’ve got a good routine and mental strategy going into majors now where I try not to let too much affect me.”

McIlroy has continued his habit of using the trip to the Emirates to set out his goals for the year. There are seven in total, although the 25-year-old would not reveal what they are. “Every year I fly here and I do a week or 10 days of preparation in Dubai before this tournament and I write my goals down on the back of my boarding pass, put it in my wallet and memorise them, then I don’t look at them until the end of the year,” he said. “So in my back pocket, in my wallet, is a boarding pass with my goals for this year. I don’t really want to share them with anyone else as they are just my little goals and I’ll try and achieve those and take that boarding pass out at the end of the year and see how well I’ve done.

“Over the Christmas period I had my first chance to really look back and reflect on the year and even watch a few of the highlights of some of the tournaments that I won, so it was nice to reflect, but I feel 2014 has really set me up for another great year.”

So here are what we think his seven goals are for 2015:

1. Win The Masters
2. Successfully defend the BMW PGA championship
3. Win the Irish Open
4. Successfully defend The Open
5. Win the US Open to become only the second man (after Tiger Woods) to hold all four majors simultaneously
6. Win the FedEx Cup
7. Win the Race to Dubai

We think he will achieve  2, 3, 4 and 7.

And the cloud? The court case against his former agents, Horizon Sports, which starts next month. “Right now I just do what my lawyers tell me to do and that’s to sit back and just concentrate on golf and that’s basically what I’ve been doing,” he said. "It hasn’t been much of a distraction so far this year. There were a couple of bits and pieces I had to do last year but honestly I haven’t really thought about it."

It will definitely be a distraction this year. At stake are his reputation and his integrity. If the court finds against him, a great deal of money will also be at stake.

Image Credit:  - TourProGolfClubs

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