Perhaps one of the reasons why this year’s Masters was one of the highest-rated in years was the dramatic storyline of eventual champion Rory McIlroy’s decade-long quest for a career Grand Slam.
In addition, there was the human-interest angle of how McIlroy has handled several high-profile near-misses in major tournaments. Would he ever be able to exorcise those demons and win a green jacket?
It was a storyline almost anyone could understand. Even his 4-year-old daughter, Poppy.
When asked in a Sky Sports interview after his dramatic victory on Sunday what he would tell his daughter someday if she asked why winning the Masters was such a big deal, McIlroy summed it up perfectly: ‘I think it’s a story of perseverance.’
McIlroy continued: ‘You know there was a lot of years I came here and I wasn’t able to achieve what I wanted to achieve, but I never let that discourage me or get me down.
‘I kept coming back and I kept giving it another go. That’s the story I would tell her and why it meant so much to so many people.’
But then he offered an unexpected glimpse into his family life that those same people rarely get to see — by giving an even more personal example of what the win meant to his daughter in that very moment.
‘They have the daycare here,’ McIlroy told interviewer Anna Jackson, ‘and she came back with a T-shirt on Friday. And on the back of that T-shirt was all the past champions of the Masters Tournament and she asked me, ‘Daddy, why is your name not on the back of this T-shirt?’
So as he greeted his family after defeating Justin Rose on the first playoff hole, McIlroy excitedly picked up his daughter for a hug and some great news.
‘So I said to her after I played, ‘Poppy, next year my name’s going to be on the back of the T-shirt!”
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