Rory McIlroy’s caddie set him a target for the rest of his career to help solve his motivation struggles.
Rory McIlroy completed the career grand slam by winning the Masters in 2025. Since then, his hot start to the year cooled off, and he looked unhappy for months after achieving his career-long goal.
Rory McIlroy was frosty with the media in the months that followed the Masters, frequently not attending press conferences. On the course, he finished tied for 47th at the PGA Championship and 19th at the US Open, and McIlroy surprisingly missed the cut at the RBC Canadian Open.
The Northern Irishman was in better spirits after returning home for The Open Championship at Royal Portrush, and he said his caddie set him a target for the rest of his career to re-motivate him.
Rory McIlroy admits to motivation struggles following Grand Slam win
At The Open Championship, McIlroy said he wanted to hide from the stresses of the PGA Tour, and was happy to be back in the UK to reset and enjoy his Masters accomplishment. McIlroy has been laser-focused on the Ryder Cup in New York since then, as Europe looks to win on American soil.
Many thought that getting the weight of the career grand slam off his shoulders would free up McIlroy and allow him to play his best golf moving forward. The opposite was true, and he explained why to Off the Ball.
He said, “What I didn’t plan for or what I didn’t think about was how I was going to feel afterwards in terms of getting motivated again to get going, and what am I going to do? Because for the last decade, my chase was to try to get that elusive Masters and win the grand slam.
“And now that I’ve done that, I think it’s just taken me a little bit of time to recalibrate and think about, ‘What are my goals going forward for the rest of my career?’ I’m still only 36. I feel like I’ve got a good, eight to 10 years at the very top level of the game left.
“At this point, it’s just about resetting those goals and giving myself more objectives to try to aim for.”
With that in mind, McIlroy’s caddie and long-term best friend, Harry Diamond, helped him set a new goal going forward.
Rory McIlroy’s caddie sets him a target for the rest of his career
Five-time major-winner McIlroy won the majority of his titles with JP Fitzgerald on the bag. But after a winless season in 2017, he swapped out Fitzgerald for Diamond. It was supposed to be a short-term arrangement, but he has been his caddie ever since.
McIlroy and Diamond grew up together in Holywood, Northern Ireland, and won their first major together at the Masters this season. Diamond said to McIlroy after his win at Augusta that while McIlroy may have completed the career Grand Slam, Diamond only has one major to his name.
McIlroy explained, “Harry said to me pretty soon after I won Augusta, he said, you know, it’s great you’ve won the Grand Slam, but I haven’t yet.
“It’d be cool to be able to do that with Harry. One of my favorite things about winning the Masters was being able to do it with Harry. We met on the putting green at Holywood Golf Club when I was seven years old, and then we were striding up the last hole with a chance to win a green jacket.
“That’s as good as it gets. So, if he’s on the journey for the rest of my career and we can pick off a few more, that would be amazing.”
He first has a Ryder Cup to win. McIlroy called the Ryder Cup the best event in golf, and will have no trouble motivating himself for what he called one of the sport’s greatest achievements, beating Team USA in the States.
After that, he can turn his attention to bringing home more major titles for his childhood best friend.