World No. 1 Rory McIlroy should not be teeing up this week as defending BMW PGA defending champion.
Of McIlroy’s then 17 worldwide wins as a professional winning at Wentworth a year ago was the most unlikeliest.
Indeed McIlroy should not have been standing on the 18th green to be handed the gleaming silver trophy.
McIlroy had not entered the tournament given the upheaval in his private life and bust-up in his intended marriage to Danish-born tennis ace Caroline Wozniacki.
Rumours abound sport’s darling couple were no longer an item and with McIlroy’s management team quelling those rumours by confirming the pair had indeed split days after the sending out of wedding invitations.
Rory McIlroy sprays champers over his fans while a picture of the new BMW PGA champion looks on. (Photo – www.europeantour.com)
Somehow McIlroy was coaxed into teeing up but then of the eve of the event he fought back the tears to formally confirm the upheaval in the young life.
“I wasn’t going to play Wentworth last year, I wasn’t going to play and it was only a few days before entries closed I decided to enter,” said McIlroy.
“I had my mind made up I wasn’t going to play given what was going on in my private life and given I was not a fan of the golf course.”
Once committed all McIlroy wanted to do a year ago was get inside the ropes, get away from the media glare and get on with what he does best.
He was six off the lead on day one, five adrift after 36-holes but then seven adrift of Thomas Bjorn heading the final round and surely with no chance of catching the Dane.
But then Wentworth has produced plenty of surprises since the inaugural event in 1955.
Bjorn buckled under the weight of a 75 and McIlroy shone brightly posting a last day 66 and nudge out fellow Irishman Shane Lowry by a shot.
Rory McIlroy with the BMW PGA trophy after a remarkable five days in the life of the 25-year old. (Photo: Fran Caffrey www.golffile.ie)
“Looking back it was a strange week for obvious reasons and it’s ironic I should then go on and win,” he added.
“A win can happen under the most bizarre circumstances and last year was all pretty bizarre.
“But a year on I am in so much of a better place. I am coming off a win last week at the Wells Fargo Championship and a victory a fortnight earlier in the Match-Play.
“So while I was not looking forward a year ago to Wentworth now that I played well last year and happened to pull off a win I am looking forward to teeing up Thursday.
“Being inside the ropes was a release for me and other than J P (Fitzgerald – his caddy) I was on my own and I was doing what I do best, which is playing golf, and it gave me four or five hours of serenity or sanctuary away from what was happening in my private life.
“I guess when someone is confronted with emotional issues as you try to deal with the best you can.
“I dealt with it by focusing on the job at hand which was to play golf and try and get the ball into the hole in the lowest number of shots possible.
“Looking back, and given what was going on early that week, it’s strange I could do that but then standing there holding the trophy that Sunday afternoon a year ago was a surprise given it was a week of mixed emotions.”
Tonight (TUES) McIlroy was again the darling joining all but one of his Gleneagles Ryder Cup winning colleagues, at a black-tie gala Tour dinner near Heathrow.
And a year on, McIlroy is in a better place private-life wise with a new flame in his life in American beauty Erica Stroll.
Stroll, as head of Volunteer Operations for the PGA of America at the 2012 Ryder Cup, had arranged for a local Chicago police car to transport McIlroy to Medinah after the Northern Irishman seemingly got his time zones wrong.
Winning at Wentworth was special to me as it was my first victory on European soil and after winning the Australian Open six months earlier, winning the BMW PGA was the start of a great 2014 season for me,” he said.
“I’m going back to Wentworth this week with another two Majors along with two WGC titles and a second Dubai Desert Classic win under my belt.
“So everything is good in my life”.
