Rory McIlroy’s sports psychologist has addressed Bryson DeChambeau’s comments about the Northern Ireland golfer not speaking to him during the Masters at the Augusta National.
After McIlroy won the Masters and completed a grand slam, DeChambeau said that he tried to speak to his compatriot but McIlroy in term offered no words.
“No idea. Didn’t talk to me once all day,” DeChambeau said. When the LIV golfer was pressed further about why things played out that way, he implied that he tried to initiate conversation but got nothing back in return. “He wouldn’t talk to me.”
McIlroy’s sports psychologist Bob Rotella cleared the air and said that there were a few things that the golfer was not going to do all tournament, and one of it was to not speak to other players.
“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.
“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,” said Rotella to Radio 4’s Today.
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Rotella also spoke about how McIlroy bought into the psychology of golf as a game designed to make mistakes and that if he had to win, he would have to learn to love the mistakes as well.
“We begin with the idea that golf, by design, is a game of mistakes, and if you love golf, you have to love the mistakes,” he said. “You have to remind them that other players are playing the same game, and they will also all make mistakes,” Rotella added.
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