AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy is in no hurry.
He’s a Masters victory away from completing the rare career Grand Slam, but he refuses to let his pursuit of a green jacket consume him.
He said Tuesday that a narrowed focus on winning the Masters “is definitely not a good place to be in.’’
“It’s to make the most of the next 20 years of my career,’’ McIlroy said. “It’s not just about one week. This is a lifelong journey of trying to improve and learn and try to master my craft, which is golf. That’s what I’ve chosen as what I want to do, and with my life. That’s a lifelong pursuit. It’s not just one week a year.’’
If those words sound particularly spiritual, they’re evidence of a recent path McIlroy has taken in his life, taking to meditation and motivational reading.
“I’ve dabbled in it over the years and I’ve needed it from time to time, but I never fully immersed myself in it,’’ McIlroy said. “Even last year, I dabbled with meditation. It’s searching until you find what resonates with you. You know, maybe what resonates with me is isn’t going to resonate with someone else, but I found what I feel is the best path forward for me and I’ve committed to it. It’s still so early in the process.
“I meditated for 20 minutes on the Sunday morning of the Players,’’ he said, referring to his Players Championship win last month. “My routine now consists of meditation, juggling, mind training, doing all the stuff to get yourself in the right place. It was actually cool. I was watching the [Augusta National] Women’s Amateur over the weekend and I saw a few women on the range juggling, so it’s catching on.’’
McIlroy said he got into the meditation “to live a healthier life and not just with my career, but away from the golf course as well.’’
“I needed some of this,’’ he said. “I needed some perspective and I needed to separate the sort of two lives that I have [on and off the golf course]. I think all the work that I’m doing and everything that I’m trying to put into my game and to my life in general, you know hopefully, not everything will be ingrained, but I have mechanisms and thoughts to draw on that can at least try to separate those two or give me some perspective on what’s happening out there.’’
McIlroy said jokingly that he’s “not going to go and live with the monks for a couple months in Nepal, but just to be able to get your mind in the right place and be able to focus and to center yourself.
“It’s 10 minutes a day,’’ McIlroy said. “It’s not as if I’m being consumed by it. But it’s definitely something that has helped from time to time — especially in situations where you need your mind to be right.’’
There aren’t any places where McIlroy needs his mind right more than at Augusta this week, when he has a chance to make history.
