Rotella on Rory Slam: “It wouldn't surprise me to see him do some winning in majors this year”
Masters champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland is presented with the Masters trophy during the Green Jacket Presentation Ceremony following the final round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Sunday, April 13, 2025.
Mental coach Dr Bob Rotella is backing Rory McIlroy to claim multiple major wins this season following his Masters breakthrough.
The veteran sports psychologist believes the outpouring of goodwill towards McIlroy at Augusta National can only help him win more often.
After completing the career Grand Slam on Sunday, McIlroy is now the favourite to win the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow next month (where he has won four times), and if he pulls it off, talk will turn to him potentially winning all four majors in one season with the US Open at Oakmont and The Open returning to Royal Portrush.
"My life is about helping people with their dreams, and Rory, he's got some big-time dreams, and he's been fighting like heck to achieve them," Rotella told BBC's Today programme.
"But what makes me happy is when I see people like Rory, who are really good people, who have something they love, and they're going after some really big-time ideas that they have in their head, and they're dreaming of them coming true someday.
"He's been fighting like heck for quite a few years now to get this last piece, and he's getting very, very tough mentally and emotionally."
Now that he's shaken the monkey off his back, Rotella expects McIlroy to push on now and win more majors.
"Given his talent and passion for the game and given his love of chasing his potential, my guess is he'll probably go on and win quite a few more," Rotella said.
"I think he's thinking about having a very multiple-win season. This is his third early in the year, and I think he likes where the majors are played this year, so it wouldn't surprise me to see him do some winning in majors this year.
"But you know, I think this is going to take a burden off his back, and I think he's finding out how much the world likes him and appreciates him, which I think that always makes people feel good. We're all human.
"But I said before the week started, I said, if he wins, they're going to say, 'Yeah, but can you win the next major?' And if he wins the next major, they'll say, 'Yeah, but can you win the first three?'
"And if he does that, they'll say, 'Can you win all four?' And if he loses, they'll rip him to shreds. And it's like, that's what athletes are dealing with, and he knows it."
McIlroy's popularity is such that Rotella believes the outpouring of goodwill towards McIlroy can only help him.
"It was probably as loud and crazy as I've ever heard," Rotella said of the incredible reaction to McIlroy's playoff win over Justin Rose.
"It showed how much the golf fans love Rory, and some of it is because he's so open and honest with every interview he does, and he tells you everything he's feeling and going through.
"And I think it made people be able to identify with him. I think they were really wanting to help him cross the finish line."
McIlroy consulted the notes Rotella told him to write in his yardage book and the mental coach revealed that the decision not to speak to Bryson DeChambeau was nothing personal.
"It didn't have anything to do with Bryson," he said. "That was our game plan all week, and we just wanted to get lost in it.
"We just wanted him to play his game and assume that if you play your game anywhere near the way you're capable of, he'll end up number one."
McIlroy was focused instead on resetting mentally every time he made a mistake.
"I begin with the idea that golf, by design, is a game of mistakes," Rotella said. "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 in the game you want it to be, and you remind them that 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 you can't believe you made, and you have to accept that. So accepting the game is a big part of it."
Rotella felt McIlroy was the perfect pupil, consulting the mental notes he had jotted down in his yardage book.
"We would have a chat every day before the round, and he would make some notes that he put in his yardage book, and we basically said every couple holes, just take a look at them to remind yourself," Rotella said, recalling how McIlroy looked at his notes before hitting his tee shot on the 72nd hole.
"So that's what he was looking at. The whole plan for that hole is, let's pick a target and be clear, committed, and free.
"Everyone tends to love Rory's swing when it's really free and flowing because he doesn't see anything but the shot he wants. It's pretty beautiful, and all I know is he passed a beautiful test. So we're so happy for him."
