McIlroy willing to keep paying the price of success

For most spectators, there can not be a more stark contrast than last week’s Heineken Cup adrenaline rush to the first Major of the year at the sedate surroundings of Augusta National.

Yet, for the professionals involved, be they veterans or novices, their paths to the top have many similarities.

Few of us as spectators can truly appreciate the price that they have paid, just to get to the bottom of the professional ladder, let alone to the top. There are precious few lines written about their training schedules for example; the long gruelling hours before dawn and throughout the day, the physical pain from their exertions, the exhaustion and of course the boring repetition. And this goes on for years. Last weekend, we marvelled at the honest performance of the entire Munster team, most especially their team leader Paul O’Connell and the man whose role it was to keep the scoreboard ticking over, Ronan O’Gara.