Dad: Meltdown drove Rory on to be No 1

Proud dad Gerry McIlroy reckons Rory’s Masters meltdown was the key to his rise to becoming the top-ranked golfer in the world.

Now he believes his son can forget all about the world rankings and look forward to battling for more Majors, with Tiger Woods roaring back to form in Palm Beach.

Gerry said: “I have noticed Rory’s maturity over the last year. It’s since the Masters, he learned a lot from that day. Seeing him go to No 1 is a proud moment. In the last year he has put so much work into it. Rory’s just so happy it’s happened and he’s No 1.”

And he believes it was hard work that got his son to the top of the game — especially since he blew the Masters last year. McIlroy led by four strokes with a round to go at Augusta National but imploded on the back nine and crashed to 15th place after a final round 80. The Co. Down man’s putting let him down that day but he has improved massively since then, missing nothing inside 10 feet on Sunday. He also got the ball up and down 21 out of 25 times during the week to top the scrambling statistics.

Gerry said: “His short game was great, but that’s just practice. Rory’s obviously believed that the more you put into it the more you get out of it.”

As for the future, former bar manager Gerry reckons the game is in a wonderful state of health with the likes of Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson and now Woods all playing well. He added: “Tiger was brilliant. It’s great for him and in a way it’s great for Rory and great for golf.”