Latest news with #BobRotella
The Independent
14-05-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Rory McIlroy left confused by Bryson DeChambeau reaction at the Masters: ‘I don't know what he was expecting'
Rory McIlroy admits he has been left confused by Bryson DeChambeau 's reaction to their lack of interaction during the final round of the Masters. McIlroy, 35, completed the career grand slam at Augusta after beating out Ryder Cup teammate Justin Rose. in the first men's golf major of the year. DeChambeau had been in contention, starting two shots behind McIlroy, before falling away to finish fifth, and the American later shed light on how the pair did not interact during their time playing together on Sunday at Augusta National. 'No idea. Didn't talk to me once all day,' DeChambeau said at the time. 'He wouldn't talk to me.' But McIlroy has now reacted to DeChambeau's comments ahead of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow this week. 'I don't know what he was expecting,' McIlroy said. 'You know, we're trying to win the Masters, I'm not trying to be his best mate out there. 'Everyone approaches the game in different ways, I was focusing on myself and what I needed to do. That's all it was, it wasn't anything against him, I felt like that was what I needed to do to get the best out of me that day.' McIlroy's sports psychologist Bob Rotella detailed how he worked with the Northern Irishman to strengthen his mindset to finally break a 10-year drought in the majors. "That didn't have anything to do with Bryson. That was just the game plan all week and we wanted to get lost in it,' Rotella told Radio 4's Today. "We didn't want to pay attention to what anyone else was scoring, or shooting, or swinging or how far they were hitting it – we just wanted Rory to play his game. "The point is, if you believe you're going to win, just play your game and assume that if you do that anywhere near the way you're capable of, then you will end up number one." Australian golfer Min Woo Lee also backed McIlroy's decision to ignore DeChambeau in the final round to concentrate on winning, adding: "When you play in two-ball pairings, you move so quick you can't talk, and plus they are in the last group. Tension. Not a big deal.'
Times
13-05-2025
- Sport
- Times
Stage set for Rory McIlroy to surpass Nick Faldo in glorious second act
As Sunday shadows lengthened, a 75-year-old man was lost in the flood. Bob Rotella was following his client around Augusta National but the crowd was a deep, thick barrier. 'You couldn't see but you could hear,' he says. The percussive cheers and groans reached their crescendo with celebrations that made Rocky look understated. Everybody wanted a piece of Rory McIlroy in his moment. Rotella finally found the depleted golfer, who had notes of the psychologist's favourite mantras in his bag. 'I just said 'unbelievable resilience' and left him to it,' he tells The Times. 'I can't even imagine how satisfying it must be.' McIlroy's fifth major, the career grand slam and a public exorcism was a great human drama. The one-shot walk to the
Times
13-05-2025
- Sport
- Times
Bob Rotella: Not talking to Bryson DeChambeau was Rory McIlroy's game plan
Rory McIlroy's sports psychologist, Bob Rotella, says the Northern Irishman's decision not to speak to Bryson DeChambeau during the final round of the Masters was 'part of the game plan'. Ten months after McIlroy's heartbreaking defeat by DeChambeau in the US Open at Pinehurst, the pair made up the final group at Augusta National, where McIlroy almost threw away a five-shot lead before beating Justin Rose in a play-off. DeChambeau started the day two shots behind McIlroy but slipped to a tie for fifth with a closing 75. When asked how McIlroy was feeling as he signed for his scorecard, DeChambeau said: 'No idea. Didn't talk to me once all day.' Asked whether he had tried to initiate any conversation during the round, DeChambeau
New York Post
10-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
Meet the golf whisperer who helped Rory McIlroy win his first Masters
Bob Rotella had no idea. Golf's most renowned sports psychologist, who has been working with Rory McIlroy for years, had been sitting in a quiet room with the 36-year-old star from Northern Ireland in the caddie building at Augusta National, where they had a motivational chat before all four of McIlroy's Masters rounds last month. When the moment of truth arrived at the end of what unfolded into an epic final round, with McIlroy's name atop the manually-operated white leaderboard, Rotella was floored by what he saw. We all saw it: McIlroy's final putt disappeared into the cup on 18 to clinch his first green jacket, capture his first major championship in 11 years and complete the coveted career Grand Slam.
Business Mayor
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
I'll never play golf like Rory McIlroy. But maybe he can teach me how to live with my mistakes
Whether you're into sport or not, there's wisdom to be mined from it. Once you've picked your way through the platitudes, banalities and cliche there's gold in there. Rory McIlroy's famous victory at the US Masters earlier this month yielded, for me anyway, a particularly good example. McIlroy's psychologist, Bob Rotella, has been credited with helping his man develop golf's key mental skill: putting your bad shots behind you and barely giving them a second thought. Asked how he went about this in an interview, Rotella said: 'We begin with the idea that golf, by design, is a game of mistakes. And if you love the game of golf, you have to love that it's a game of mistakes. If you're trying to change it into a game of perfect then you don't really like golf, you're trying to change it into the game you want it to be. And the other players are playing the same game so they're all going to make a lot of mistakes. The second part is, because you're a human being you're going to make mistakes that you can't believe you made. You have to accept that. So, accepting the game is a big part of it.' It's well worth substituting the word 'life' for the word 'golf' in that paragraph. In life, and in golf, I could do with an hour of Mr Rotella's time. I simply cannot get a bad golf shot I've just played out of my mind. In fact, I vividly recall terrible shots I played years ago. And don't talk to me about visualisation. If I'm hitting over water, not only can I not picture the ball clearing it, I can see and hear it plopping into the drink. Read More Gen Z yearning for fascism? It's grim — but I'm not surprised It's the same with life. Memories of daft things I've said and done, big and small, assail me without warning. Like the time in the 80s when, walking into a Judie Tzuke concert at the Birmingham Odeon, I unaccountably gave my friend's bottom a squeeze, only to find it wasn't my friend, it was some other bloke. The thought of things like this literally, physically, makes me jump. But not any more. I'm channelling Bob Rotella for all I'm worth. Soon I hope to be able to listen to Judie Tzuke without juddering in horror. Life's a game of mistakes and so be it. Cheers, Bob.
