More proof of Rory McIlroy’s maturity and return to form

The Conservative leadership candidate gave an interview to The Spectator magazine, alleging that arguments against lockdown were dismissed without proper exploration or evidence, at the height of the Covid pani

And again, Rory is in the headlines!

McIlroy, the golfing superstar from Holywood in Co Down, has become the first player to win the FedEx Cup three times.

But not only that, he has done it in spectacular form, by overturning a six-shot deficit in the final round of the Tour Championship.

At one point McIlroy holed from 30 feet for birdie on the 15th.

“What a week, what a day,” he said at the prize presentation.

Only weeks ago Rory McIlroy was on the brink of a second victory at the Open, which would have brought his major tournament tally to a mighty five titles.

He has won the PGA championship twice and the US Open, in addition to his 2014 Open victory. The Masters still eludes him but on current trend the Green Jacket will come his way in time.

It is a tremendous return to form for an Ulster golfer who seemed perhaps to have peaked too early in his career.

But the brilliance and hard work that got him to the top of the sport at an astonishingly young age, as one of the youngest winners of major titles in a spell of victories in his early 20s,

Now, in his mid 30s, McIlroy is facing the difficulties that come from getting older — few golfers win the top trophies after their late 30s — but he is also benefitting from maturity and experience.

He seems less likely to get into verbal spats that once seemed to show a prickly side to the young man.

He is also emerging as an elder statesman in defence of the PGA Tour against the money-dominated threat of the Saudi LIV rival tour — which apart from anything else is an important battle against greed in sport.

McIlroy was doing his native Northern Ireland proud at the start of his professional career and seems set to do us proud well into the future too.