Timing is everything in this game. If Rory McIlroy’s barnstorming win in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill gave him a timely tonic ahead of the forthcoming Masters then his musings in the jubilant aftermath were telling.
Having got himself back to basics with his putting, and untangling himself from the clanking of technical analysis thanks to some simple pearls of wisdom from sturdy stalwart Brad Faxon, McIlroy delivered something of an ominous warning ahead of the first men’s major of the season.
“I’m trying to get back to feeling how I did as a kid, where your instinct takes over,” he said. “The last time I had freedom like this was probably 2014.”
And what happened in 2014? That’s right, a surging McIlroy embarked on a quite shimmering spell when he won the Open, the WGC Bridgestone Invitational and the PGA Championship in the space of a few , glory-laden weeks.
Having found himself in the midst of a prolonged, 18-month golfing drought that just about had the sustainability experts at the R&A enforcing a hose pipe ban, McIlroy is back in fine fettle.
Once again, he heads to Augusta National aiming to complete the career grand slam. With spring in the air, there’s always a sense of anticipation as the Masters looms but with so many story lines being acted out by the global game’s star cast, this season’s occasion has been billed as the most eagerly awaited in many a year.
McIlroy is very much part of that particular narrative having barged his way back into centre stage at a time when he was getting shunted into the margins by the exploits of others.
Now free from the shackles of injury that severely impacted his progress last season, McIlroy is finally reaping the rewards again.
“Look, I’ve always believed in myself and I know that me being 100 per cent healthy is good enough to not just win on the PGA Tour but win a lot,” said McIlroy, whose thrilling closing round of 64 on Sunday was burnished by five birdies on his last six holes.
“And I guess that’s what kept me going. I wanted to get back to 100 per cent fitness, which I have, and that allows me to practise as much as I want, to go about my business, to do everything that I need to do to feel 100 per cent prepared to play golf tournaments.
“So I never lost belief. I know that I’ve got a gift for this game and I know that if I put the time in I can make a lot of it. I guess that’s what’s kept me going.”
In a world of remorseless scrutiny, McIlroy is never far away from the microscope and ardent onlookers can easily flip from gushing adulation to withering criticism like some hyperactive clown playing with a pull chord light switch. It’s all par for the course as far as McIlroy is concerned.
“I think golf is so fickle and you’re never far away – or at least I feel I’m never far away - from producing golf like what I did (on Sunday).
“But on the flip side, I don’t think you’re ever far away from producing mediocre golf as well. It’s such a fine line out here.
“I might have sounded crazy the last few weeks when I was telling everyone it actually feels pretty close and I’m not that far away and I’m putting up 72s and 73s.
“But all of a sudden it all clicks into place and I end up winning a golf tournament by three shots and shooting eight-under on the last day.
“So it’s fine lines out here, I think you have to play the game to really appreciate that. It’s not as black and white as some people make it out to be.”
McIlroy will be hoping his game his coloured by a big dollop of green in April when he attempts to get his arms into the sleeves of golf’s most sought after jaicket.
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