Rory McIlroy embracing ‘perks’ of golf success as he targets more major glory

By Scott Hunt, Press Association, Philadelphia

Rory McIlroy is determined to enjoy the “perks” of life at the top of golf as he targets more major glory at this week’s US PGA Championship.

The 37-year-old clinched back-to-back Masters titles with a one-shot victory at Augusta last month and arrives at Aronimink Golf Club bidding to become just the fifth player since 1960 to win the first two majors of the year.

McIlroy has played just one tournament since Augusta, at last week’s Truist Championship, admitting he chose to skip the Cadillac Championship at Trump Doral after being invited to a state dinner during the visit of King Charles at the White House by President Donald Trump.

The Northern Irishman also has a cameo in the recently-released Devil Wears Prada 2 movie and says he wants to make the most of what comes with being one of the world’s best.

“I know how fortunate I am and so lucky to be in this position in life and sometimes you have to enjoy the perks because I know that this isn’t going to last forever,” McIlroy said.

“There’s going to be a day where I’m not sitting up here and I’m not competing for major championships and I’m not doing what I’m doing. So I guess while I’m doing it, I have to enjoy it.

“It’s been amazing, but there’s still a lot of things I want to achieve. But if I can enjoy it along the way, that’s a nice thing to do.

“I was tentatively planning to play Doral and then I got invited to that White House state dinner the night before on a Tuesday night, which I thought was a wonderful opportunity.

“I wanted to do the state dinner and if I was going to do that, it was probably better that I take that week to practise and prepare and come up here and see the golf course.”

McIlroy would pass Nick Faldo and stand alone as Europe’s most successful golfer of the modern era with seven major wins – Jersey-born Harry Vardon won seven before the Masters or US PGA Championship began – with victory in south-west Philadelphia.

He has won this tournament twice – in 2012 and 2014 – and holds the record for the largest winning margin in US PGA Championship history, by eight shots.

After winning the Masters last year, McIlroy spoke of struggling for motivation, but says he is raring to go this time around.

“I need to take the time after the Masters to reset and decompress and get myself in the right mental space again to get myself up for this tournament and keep going for the US Open and the Open Championship,” McIlroy added.

“I think I came into this tournament last year a little bit sort of uncertain of what my future was – just like I conquered this thing that I wanted to conquer for so long and I was a little bit… I still hadn’t really reset goals or found whatever that motivation was to keep going or go forward and set myself goals for the rest of my career.

“Coming into this tournament feels a lot different than what it did last year. I feel like I’ve got some nice clear road ahead to try to get some more of these majors.”