Messi, Brady and Nadal now the icons driving Rory McIlroy to stay great

McIlroy now takes inspiration from sporting icons as he targets golf's biggest prizes into the latter years of his career.

Rory McIlroy wins Laureus World Comeback of the Year

Rory McIlroy now takes inspiration from sporting icons like Rafa Nadal, Lionel Messi and Tom Brady as he targets golf's biggest prizes into the latter years of his career.

McIlroy was speaking at the Laureus World Sports Awards, where he won the Comeback of the Year prize, saying he was now at the point of his career where he will be focusing primarily on the bigger events, and on building his tally of six major championships.

“Completing the career Grand Slam, I always felt like that was going to be the highlight of my career. But I'm still competitive, I still feel like I have a lot left to give. I’m at a point in my career where I really have to target the bigger events, the four Major championships, the Ryder Cup. Trying to add to that number is something that's really important to me.

“I got a lot of inspiration from athletes that are maybe at the back end of their careers, and still able to achieve these great things. And I think of Novak (Djokovic) and Roger (Federer) and Rafa (Nadal) in tennis, or I look at Messi or Ronaldo in soccer, I look at Tom Brady in American football. I take inspiration from those guys and what they were able to achieve later into their careers.” 

McIlroy revealed that Spanish tennis great Nadal is among his devoted supporters. “I saw Rafa a lot at Augusta and to have his support… he'd leave me little voice notes at the end of every day and it's really cool when you have one of the absolute legends of sport cheering you on like that, and him knowing what it feels like to be in that position – that's really cool.”

Speaking about this year's Masters win, backing up last year's Green Jacket after his long wait for the prize he sought more than any other, McIlroy added: “This year it felt more real, more complete. When I won in 2025, I kept thinking to myself, ‘is this real life?’, the way it happened, and there was this outpouring of emotion. This year it was like validation.”

And he is already looking ahead to next year's Ryder Cup at Adare Manor:  “I can't wait to play in front of those crowds in Ireland. I really think the crowd are going to give us the momentum to go and win our fourth Ryder Cup in a row.”