AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy hit all 280 shots around Augusta National this week en route to capturing his first Masters and completing the career Grand Slam on Sunday, but there was much going on off the course behind the scenes to help make his dream come true.
Among those things were regular meetings with Bob Rotella, the most prominent sports psychologist in golf.
No player in the history of golf entered this week’s Masters with more pressure than McIlroy carried with him, based on scar tissue from past failure, his long drought without winning a major and with the burden of expectations.
Rotella has been working with McIlroy for years, but this week may have been his best work yet.