In a first of it’s kind revelation, Rory McIlroy admitted he gleans ‘pure motivation’ not from winning tournament trophies but collecting the 18th hole pin flag from tournament venues where he’s won.
McIlroy has won 38 tournaments and a host of team prizes, including being a member of five winning European Ryder Cup sides, plus there’s four DPWT Race to Dubai titles and three FedEx Cup No. 1 crowns, in his now 17-year professional career and most of those trophies, apart for a few on public show within Holywood GC clubhouse, are in the trophy room of his palatial Bears Club abode.
It’s a gleaming collection, including also a handful of procelin trophies, that McIlroy went onto his ‘X’ account late in 2022 to show off – see herunder.
Special delivery from @FedEx! Three looks a bit off balance, guess I’ll need to win another #FedExCup ♂️ pic.twitter.com/q7C7AbvdCB
— Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory) November 3, 2022
However, was asked ahead of this week’s inaugural hosting of the new-named Cozignant Classic whether winning trophies remain meaningful to him in terms of having them on display.
“Yeah, so I know a lot of players give their caddies the flags from the 18th greens, but I like to keep those, and they’re all in my gym sort of more for motivation”, he said.
“I go in there and I see all the flags on the wall and I want to add flags to those walls. That’s my motivation. The trophies are really cool and great to look at them and see all the names that came before you. That’s amazing.
“But just for pure motivation. And I think it’s sort of like a double-edged sword. You look at these things and it’s a nice moment to reflect on what you achieved, but it’s also really good motivation in terms of what you still want to do in the game”
And after a little social media searching there is evidence of McIroy’s collection of 18th hole flags in his ‘simplistic’ home gym.
Click on: https://fb.watch/qvnV4paqh9/
