'Winning tournaments is nice.. but the major count is all that matters to Rory now'

Mcllroy's career examined in new RTE documentary

- BY LYNNE KELLEHER

IRELAND'S former Olympic golf captain Paul McGinley believes Rory Mcllroy and Shane Lowry regret their decision to pull out of the Rio Olympics.

He expresses his lingering disappointment at the lost opportunity for a gold medal for Ireland in in a new RTE documentary, Rory McIlroy The Battle Won, chronicling an incredible year for the Northern Irishman in which he finally completed the Grand Slam.

The hour-long programme also revisits the rollercoaster season where McIlroy won the Irish Open and led Europe to a Ryder Cup victory, despite torrid verbal abuse from a hostile American crowd.

Fellow golf star Padraig Harrington says the Holywood star now has nine majors in his sights.

He added: "Money doesn't matter to him. Winning tournaments are nice but the major count is all that matters to him at this stage. Nine is in his head but does he believe it is the question?"

McGinley dismissed the narrative that McIlroy was a choker in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the majors before his Masters breakthrough.

He said: "Just look at his win ratio. So, he wins 15% of tournaments that he plays. Jack Nicklaus is 12%.

"To be 15% is phenomenal. He was winning time after time on the DP World Tour and on the PGA Tour, in big events, against the same players."

In the noughties, McGinley says McIlroy fundamentally changed the way elite golf was played.