Rory McIlroy Sounds Like a Golfer With Nothing Left to Prove and Everything Left to Win

We haven’t seen much of Rory McIlroy over the last few months—well, inside the ropes anyway. He gutted out a bad back at THE PLAYERS, took nearly a month off before winning his second straight Green Jacket, and now he returns to Quail Hollow for the Truist Championship, his first start since the Masters.

Why bother going through the grind of weekly events when you can just show up and win? I’d do the same thing.

RELATED: Field for the Truist Championship

But for those who were at their local movie theater over the weekend, McIlroy made a surprising cameo in The Devil Wears Prada 2. Two years ago, after he beat J.J. Spaun in a Monday playoff to win his second PLAYERS title, McIlroy said that he relaxed that Sunday night ahead of the playoff by watching the original The Devil Wears Prada. David Frankel, the film’s director, said when that came across his desk, he knew he had to get McIlroy involved in the sequel. The Northern Irishman never expected to hear from Frankel, but the director’s son played for the Stanford golf team and told his dad about McIlroy’s preparation.

When the team reached out to McIlroy, he was on the fence about getting involved—but then he asked his wife, Erica.

“She’s like, ‘yeah, absolutely!’ Then I texted back and said, ‘Do you think Erica could be in it, too?’ And they’re like, ‘Sure, bring her along!’ We spent a day in New York and did it, and it was an unbelievable experience,” McIlroy said on this week’s episode of the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce.

McIlroy also touched on his Masters win, golf dad tips, the “shrink the game” movement, and his Mount Rushmore of courses, plus tons more.

As for the Truist, McIlroy enters as the betting favorite and for good reason. He’s won here four times, including the last time it was held at Quail Hollow (2024). Even outside the wins, he's turned this place into his personal ATM.

For that reason alone, it’s easy to think of him winning again come Sunday afternoon. But after hearing him discuss his motivation following his sixth major win, another win in five days feels like a foregone conclusion.

“I felt like winning the Grand Slam was like this—was going to be this life-changing thing, and in some ways it was, but in other ways I had to remember like, no, I still have a lot of my career left and I want to keep playing and keep competing,” McIlroy told the media Wednesday.

“So this year, I think winning was validation for all the work that I've put in over the last few years to get myself back to this place where I'm winning majors. I'm excited for the road ahead. I'm excited for this week, I'm excited for Aronimink next week, Shinnecock, Birkdale. I feel like, if anything, I'm more motivated after what happened at Augusta this year than I've ever been.”

RELATED: For Rory, Mount Rushmore is Within Reach

A motivated McIlroy could be a nightmare for the rest of the TOUR so stay tuned beacuse we might get an early glimpse of that this week at one of his favorite stops.