Then and now: A different McIlroy returns to event that has defined career

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Tucked in the bowels of Quail Hollow Club - in a narrow hallway connecting the scoring area for this week’s Wells Fargo Championship and the bag room - is a framed, oversized scorecard.

Rory McIlroy’s flawless third-round card during the 2015 Wells Fargo Championship, which featured 11 birdies and just 23 putts for a 61, is a testament to his competitive mastery at a place that has so clearly defined his career.

When McIlroy won his first PGA Tour event on the south side of Charlotte he was two days shy of his 21^st birthday and the undisputed next big thing. As he joyfully bounded down the 18^th fairway nearly a decade ago under a mop of curly black hair, the ceiling on his potential seemed limitless.

By comparison, this week’s birthday celebration will be distinctly more low-key with a small group of family and friends gathered at a local rented house. He's 30 years old now (on Saturday), has added 14 Tour titles to his collection, including four major championships, and is markedly more understated today.

That’s not to be confused for old.

“It's funny, I still feel like I'm one of the younger guys, but in my mind I'm not 30, either,” he said on Wednesday at Quail Hollow Club. “It's weird. I don't know what age I really am. It's sort of I was here when I was 20 and winning at Quail Hollow, but it doesn't feel like 10 years ago.”

For those who study tape and search through statistics, not that much has changed for the Northern Irishman. When he won that first Tour tilt nine years ago, he finished fourth in greens in regulation and fifth in driving distance for the week. When he won The Players Championship earlier this year that calling card hadn’t changed – third in greens in regulation and fourth in driving distance.

McIlroy’s unique brand of golf has aged well.

Other than a renewed focus on fitness and some nuanced swing changes, not much has changed outwardly for McIlroy. The transformation internally, however, has been nothing short of dynamic.

Full-field tee times from the Wells Fargo Championship

Wells Fargo Championship: Articles, photos and videos

His quest to improve his body and swing remains unchanged. In fact he spent the last two weeks since his last start at the Masters fine tuning his swing after what he described as a poor driving week at Augusta National.

“The Masters, that was actually really good because you could see basically every shot that you hit,” said McIlroy, who explained he focused on the tee shots that made him uncomfortable at Augusta National and tried to neutralize his ball flight.

But it’s not that predictable process that makes McIlroy as compelling today as he was nearly a decade ago when he broke through at Quail Hollow. What’s transformed him from a player with so much compelling potential to a seasoned professional with sustained performance is how he’s focused just as intently to improve himself as a person.

Asked recently what was in his “go-to” reading library, McIlroy referenced four titles that are probably not on most professional’s book shelves. “The Greatest Salesman in the World” by Og Mandino, “The Obstacle is the Way” and “Ego is the Enemy” by Ryan Holiday and “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson were all on his list.

That’s not exactly easy reading. But then, McIlroy hasn’t exactly been on a carefree journey.

“If I look back through all the success that I've had winning tournaments, whether it be a major or not, I always go back to the fact that I was in a really good place that week,” McIlroy said. “What does that mean? How do you quantify that? How do you get yourself back in that place more often? That's not necessarily hitting golf balls. It's doing other stuff and getting your mind in the right place.”

Quail Hollow has always been that kind of place for McIlroy. In eight starts at the Wells Fargo Championship he has two victories, six top 10s and he’s missed the cut just once (2011). He also added a tie for 22^nd at the 2017 PGA Championship that was played at Quail Hollow.

That ’17 PGA is something of an anomaly for McIlroy at Quail Hollow, much like this year’s Masters. After starting the year with seven consecutive top-10 finishes, his tie for 21^st at Augusta National counts as a curious low-water mark.

But if that’s as close as McIlroy gets to a “slump” this season he’ll be doing well and he knows, better than anyone else, his quest for his first green jacket - the last piece of the career Grand Slam puzzle - will be measured in decades, not years.

That’s the biggest difference between the soon-to-be 30 year old and the 20-year-old who lapped the field by four strokes at Quail Hollow in 2010.

Asked on Wednesday if he’s more mature now than he was when he won that first Tour title McIlroy smiled, “I’d hope so.”

Whether he’s a better player today than the one who produced that perfectly oversized scorecard now framed in the Quail Hollow basement remains to be seen. But there’s no question he’s a better person.

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