For Rory’s elastic right man, masters win would say something extra

Augusta, ga. – In the 27 minutes of jubilee He Rory Mcilroy spoke at the press conference of the Sunday masters winner in his newly acquired, acquired green jacket, only one subject brought him into tears.

“He has been a big brother to me all my life,” Mcilroy said.

And then he broke down.

Mcilroy’s masters victory was extremely significant for a number of obvious reasons. Because it ended a great championship drought of a decade plus. Because he would finally win the largest tournament in the world, 14 years after he would have staged a last round with four terrible strokes. Because he ended his attempt for the Grand Slam career, only one feat Tiger Woods He had performed in the last half century. And because it came at the end of a exhausting day, which came at the end of a week of rollercoaster, which came at the end of a disappointing, futile stretch of nearly 4,000 days.

But it was also significant because a victory for Mcilroy meant a victory for the silent, mysterious, very abused man near him.

As the last bird of Mcilroy Birdie Putt fell, winning the victory in his 73rd hole of the week, he later admitted that he did not feel joy – just relief. He admitted how difficult it was to be Rory Mcilroy, how heavy the weight of the expectations was. Several times he mentioned the word chargeAcknowledging that he had grown up more weighted with every lost opportunity. And he shouted the man who, for most of that stretch, has been there to help at the top of the load, the man he first hugged when he finally fell. After all, who better than a caddy to help keep a golf player burden?

“I’ve known Harry since I was seven years old,” Mcilroy said. “We have had so A lot of good times together. ”

In the decade-plus since the last Mcilroy championship victory, in a drought determined by increasingly close heart calls, fans and critics have sought something or someone to blame. This has implied many second conjectures of everything, from his coaches to his thought until his preparation before the tournament-plus many ammunition fired at Harry Diamond, who has served as the man of Mcilroy and the right man since 2017.

Whenever Mcilroy was asked about the diamond and the fact that they would never win a major together, he would give a change in the same answer in two words: Everything but. They would win player championships. They would collect PGA Tour’s victories. They would win the FedEx cups and races in Dubai. They would win the ryder cups. They would reach world no. 1. And they would approach as much as you can to win big championships without actually taking the line. Only without diplomas.

Everything but.

But because diplomas are what really matters, the criticism of the shed, most of their speculative, mainly focused on the fact that their friendship was hindering their professional relationships in major moments. It is true that they ARE friends; It bit is underestimated if anything. Mcilroy recounted Sunday in their first meeting, which came when he was a seven year old in Green Green in the Holywood Golf Club in northern Ireland. But Diamond was also a player when he first met Mcilroy and for many years afterwards; He represented Ireland several times as a young man and later won the prestigious 2012 amateur west of Ireland. This was hardly just a friend from the bed.

There was a moment after the club of Augusta National On Sunday where Diamond tried its dilution. Mcilroy had faced a five pedestrian for victory in the 18th hole of the adjustment and, when he had lost, took a shocked walk in the shell to score, his mind a whip. But while the two were preparing to be loaded in a wheelchair and returning to the 18th Tee for the first Play Hole off-sudden death, Diamond spoke.

“He said to me,” Well, Paul, we would have received this Monday morning, “” Mcilroy confessed later. “I’m like,” Yes, we would absolutely have. “That was an easy reset.

The rest was history.

We know what Mcilroy thought of it all. He gave an interview after the round, and then a winner’s speech, and then a press conference. In that press came a not so thin kick in the diamond suspicious.

“To be able to share this with him, after all the close calls we have had, all the mutes he had to get from people who know nothing about the game, yes, this is as his own as it is,” Mcilroy said.

But what did Diamond do it all? This will require a little more conjecture. He does not do interviews and is not even active on social media, prone to stay as much as he can from the story center. He has done extremely well in this regard; Mcilroy is the most scrutinized golf player of his generation, but the general public is likely to have never heard Diamond speak. Still, would he probably make an exception on Sunday of Grand Slam?

A request came from reporters gathered while Mcilroy’s victory became official: Diamond politely refused. Golf Channel approached him for an interview a little later; He also did not accept it. For the first time I can remember, we have not heard anything from the winner Caddy, who stuck in the role of kadi – display, continue, close – Even now.

As the discoverers raised by course and the night Ra and Mcilroy completed his press availability, I wandered at the Augusta National Caddy house, where the diamond was gathering his things. I really didn’t expect a record interview, but I realized it was worth asking; At least it would be a chance to offer diligent congratulations within the people, and perhaps there was something he wanted to say about his friend-Slash-Boss and their three decades trip.

As I waited for the champion to go out, I took a place in the bleaches on the edge of the Augusta National, enlightened but empty area of ​​space, just a few meters from the space where Diamond and Mcilroy had warmed about seven hours and a lifetime before. It was still now. It was quiet. Without a phone to distract me, I looked at the night and thought about what I just saw and settled in a clear thought:

This changes All this.

Those player championships? Those FedEx Cup wins? Those climbing in world no. 1? They are brighter, fuller, more impressive in the context of a master win. For years every Mcilroy Pga Tour’s victory came with a subtext of Yes but can he great; Now they are feathers on his lid, impressive notes in the best renewal of the post-tiger era golf. Calldo the narrow call of the last decade now seems like a step on the stairs to Sunday’s final pleasure. Profit takes care of everything.

I sat for 10 minutes, then 15, then 20, reproducing the day’s shooting, double the devastating double in 1 and the wonderful jumping bird in 3 and the difference between the triumph and the tragedy that continued the rest of the round, exhausting and exciting a crowd cheering for history and fearing a final collapse. I wondered what he looked and felt with Diamond, the wildest day in great memory. And then I realized that the diamond was gone. He must have left from another exit and close at night to join the entertainment.

Everything except? This is a thing of the past. Mcilroy and Diamond have won everything, period.

Plus whatever else is.

Dylan dethier welcomes your comments to Dylan_dethier@golf.com.

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