Rory McIlroy has revealed that he was finding it hard to enjoy his time on the PGA Tour until a 'great lesson' helped him rediscover his love for the game. The 35 year old golfer, who recently clinched his 25th PGA Tour title at the Zurich Classic alongside close friend Shane Lowry, admitted that the fun-filled week in New Orleans had rekindled his enthusiasm for the sport.
McIlroy's victory at TPC Louisiana, which came nine months after his last win at the Scottish Open, marked a positive end to April for the four-time major champion, who had previously struggled at the Masters. However, beyond the result, McIlroy credits the enjoyable atmosphere of the Zurich Classic - the tour's only team event - for boosting his spirits.
The Northern Irishman, who had never participated in the tournament before agreeing to play with Lowry during a post-Ryder Cup lunch, told NBC: "The week in New Orleans did me the world of good just in terms of the fun element. It was a lot of fun; we had a great time, regardless of the result."
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He added: "But then, obviously, the result was a bonus, too, and getting the win with Shane. And I think as well, with how I felt like my game came around, especially on the weekend there, I played great.
"We got off to a bit of a slow start Saturday, but I think I played the last ten holes on Saturday at six-under, and then I played a super solid round of golf on Sunday even though I only hit half of the shots, the shots that I did hit I thought were pretty good.
"Then to win with a friend and what that did for both of our seasons, right? It got Shane into the last few signature events.
"It got us both up the FedEx Cup points list quite a bit. And it gave us a lot of confidence going into the meat of the season and the summer. So, yeah, it was a great week."
"I'm so glad that we were able to do it and play, and, yeah, it definitely makes me excited about the rest of the year now."
"I think when you're going through a spell of golf where you're not getting the results that you want, it's hard to have fun, right? It's hard to keep your enthusiasm. It's hard to keep that positive mindset, week in, week out.
"That was my fourth week in a row, and I was saying to my team last week, it's a great lesson for me that when things aren't going great, sometimes it's not about going back home and working on your game and standing on the range.
"It's about trying to play, and play through it and understand what your misses are and how to manage."
"It was a good lesson to me that sometimes just to keep going is the right thing to do, and to keep playing and to keep working on what you're working on and having faith that it is all going to come together at some point."
