For seventeen years, Rory McIlroy chased one title that kept sliding through his fingers – The Masters. Year after year, he endured at Augusta National, and year after year, he left with nothing. By his own admission, he was entrenched, stuck in a cycle of near misses that impacted him psychologically. Few people have watched that struggle as closely or spoken about it with as much passion as retired South African golfer Gary Player. Speaking in an interview with High Performance on YouTube, the nine-time major champion reveals the lesson McIlroy learned from those failures.

“Best thing that could have happened to him. He had to encounter those terrible difficulties. He made such a mess on the 10th hole that year. I mean, you could cry for him. And yet, he persevered. Perseverance is a very eloquent word. I’ve tried things and persevered, and it doesn’t work. I tried again six months later; it doesn’t work. I said, “It’s useless.” A year later, I think, ‘I’ll try that again.’ It works because you persevered. And Rory persevered.”

Speaking on the High Performance podcast posted on July 17, Gary Player praised Rory McIlroy as the second-best golfer in the world after Scottie Scheffler, saying the Northern Irishman possesses “the best swing in the world.” But Player was also quick to point out that McIlroy’s talent alone doesn’t explain his rise. His years of relentless hard work make him the golfer he is today.

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McIlroy’s most heartbreaking collapse in the final round of the 2011 Masters, one that Player calls worth crying over. Rory McIlroy, the then-21-year-old, carried a four-shot lead into the back nine on Sunday before disaster hit his momentum. His tee shot on the 10th hit a tree and came to rest between two cabins. The impossible shot cost him a triple bogey, followed by a bogey and a double bogey to recover. He finished the round at an eight-over 80 and tied for 15th. That didn’t stop him from wanting to play his best golf again, as he mentioned post-match.

“I’m very disappointed at the minute, and I’m sure I will be for the next few days, but I’ll get over it.”

Year after year brought fresh heartbreak, yet McIlroy refused to relent. The 2022 Open Championship saw another collapse from McIlroy, as he entered the final round tied with Viktor Hovland and despite shooting a bogey-free round of 70, he finished third after winner Cameron Smith and runner-up Cameron Young. The 2024 U.S. Open brought more loss, as McIlroy bogeyed three of the final four holes, losing to the eventual champion Bryson DeChambeau. But none of this deterred the six-time major winner.

Recalling an incident, Player shared that the two stood together at a practice tee one morning in front of thousands of fans. He shared that he asked the Grand Slam winner what his training looked like. McIlroy was quick to pull out a phone and show him a video of his workout routine of a 400-pound deadlift. Player watched the video in disbelief. McIlroy’s work ethic—and the pain of those near misses—had forged his success.

“You see how strong he is; you see the prodigious distances he gets. He works at it,” Player said

That said, the physical side only explains part of how Rory McIlroy keeps going. Speaking on the iCanFly podcast, McIlroy described the mental habit that kept him grounded through those years of falling short. Perhaps it’s also the reason he persevered despite seeing results. He said he leans on the phrase “process over prize.” He repeats it to himself to pull his focus away from results and back onto the shot right in front of him, the same way he’d use a swing thought.

“And like, I know for myself more so; I don’t know about other people, but I can get real caught up in the outcome. And I just really need to remind myself that the outcome will ultimately happen if you just focus on the process.”

His persistence eventually paid off. McIlroy won the Masters in 2025, completing a long era and winning his career Grand Slam. A year later, in 2026, he defended the title, becoming only the fourth golfer in history to win back-to-back green jackets. Right after that win, he was quick to echo Gary Player’s words, coincidentally. He had said that all of his perseverance at Augusta had finally borne fruit.

But this fruit goes beyond just physical work and training; it also utilizes the strength of the mind, which Rory McIlroy had trained over the years.

The mental work behind Rory McIlroy’s mindset

Rory McIlroy, over the years, has been open about how much of his game now happens away from the range. He told Golf.com back in 2020 that he attributes all the power to the mind.

“Our mind is way more powerful than really anything else. If you can utilize it the right way, it will inevitably help your game on the course.”

Over the years, McIlroy and many players have insisted on the power our mind holds over the way we pursue and respond to things. American golfer Wyndham Clark said something similar after enduring the hostile crowd at the 2026 U.S. Open. He shared a learning from his therapist. Every time someone said something negative to him, he replaced it with something positive.

McIlroy emphasises mindset over mechanics, reinforcing that he scores on the course by focusing his thoughts over any technical change. Notably, as easy as it sounds, it is not. Rory McIlroy, for one, credits that strength to meditation as a part of his routine. Speaking on the iCanFly podcast, he elaborated on this.

“So it’s a very simple way to center yourself, because you think about the world that we live in nowadays compared to the world a hundred years ago, and all the stuff that’s around us… If we can just take a few minutes a day to get away from all that like that has to be a good thing.”

And if Rory McIlroy’s own words are any indication, staying committed to process rather than the prize is ultimately what turned years of heartbreak into golfing history.