McIlroy "the next Tiger" is already here

Rory McIlroy won, yesterday, his second playoff  Tournament in a row with a magnificent 20 under par at the BMW Championship, at the famous Crooked Stick links in Indiana.

"Boy Wonder" has won three important tournaments in less than a month (PGA Championship, Deutsche Bank and this BMW) and, in my opinion, only confirms he is "the next Tiger", but that he has also arrived.

What McIlroy said in his press conference yesterday evening is very interesting, and I am convinced he will be unstoppable in the years to come.

He spoke of six key aspects of his game, things that are fundamental to a strong Mental Game.

Let´s see what I mean:

1. He has a magnificent swing that he understands very well:

Everybody knows that his golf swing is near perfect. But he knows how to fix it quickly when it goes wrong.

His words testify to this point:  "I went and did some great work on the range last night after I played, figured a couple things out. My driving yesterday was horrendous, and today I think I only missed one fairway".

A great swing that has changed very little since he was a boy, and that he can self fix very quickly are key to big success.

2. He knows how to win:

One of Mental Golf´s fundamentals is that one has to go through a learning curve to win big Championships. To a certain point this can be overcome by mental rehearsals and visualization, but having gone through the experience of winning, and losing, under severe pressure, is key.

McIlroy lost the 2011 Masters and was smart enough to learn from his disaster. At only 22 years of age, he blew away the field three months later at the US Open and he won easily at this years PGA Championship, and now he has won two big playoff tournaments in a row.
He is now totally comfortable with competing under pressure in the biggest of tournaments, despite his young age.

3. His confidence level is supreme:

In his press conference yesterday he said:

"I sort of picked up where I left off in Boston, shot 64 the first day here, and just playing with a lot of confidence right now. I'm confident in my ability and confident with the shots that I'm hitting and confident on the greens".

It reminded me of Bob Rotella´s book "Your 15´th Club. Rotella´s 15´th club is none other than confidence.....plain and unvarnished as he says. It is the essential piece of any solid Mental Method for golf, and Rory McIlroy has it, and this enables him to frequently enter "the zone" and to play near perfect golf.

4. His on course management is outstanding:

Knowing when to play aggressively or conservatively is key in Mental Golf. And McIlroy pointed out yesterday that he feels he is doing a great job in this area. Jack Nicklaus was a master at golf course management and he is still the best golfer that ever lived.

The reason rigorous and conservative planning is so key to Mental Golf is because, if you do it well, it helps you "stay" in the automatic or unconscious mode, the mode that helps you play great golf.

5. His short game and putting is superb:
When asked for his thoughts on the common denominator of his last three wins he replied:

"I think my ability to save par, the ability to limit the mistakes on my card. You know, I played -- I think I had 47 putts the weekend at Kiawah; Boston last week was something similar; and here this week, again, I said my -- a few really crucial up-and-downs yesterday afternoon kept me in this tournament and gave me the opportunity and the chance to go out there today and shoot a good number to win".

There is nothing more important in golf than the short game and putting. And McIlroy and his team have acted accordingly. After last year´s Masters disaster they concluded that McIlroy´s weakness was his putting, and they did not hesitate to get help from the world´s leading putting Guru, Dave Stockton.

And McIlroy´s putting, thereafter, has been simply fabulous, and Stockton´s remarks about his pupil  very interesting: "I have never come across another 23 year old capable of absorbing my concepts so quickly and thoroughly".

6. This year has taught him something vital: patience:

McIlroy mentioned yesterday that he learned a lesson of patience midyear when things didn´t go his way.

This is another key concept in Mental Golf.

Golf is an extremely complex game and it´s very easy to get frustrated. But it can turn extremely quickly.

It is vital to understand that usually "slumps" are normal and that most times the solution is not with technical, club or swing changes. Simply one has to stay patient on and off the course, and things will turn.

I stand firm with what I´ve said in my recent articles (English and Spanish language Blogs). Rory McIlroy is "the next Tiger", but, now, he is already here.