Rory McIlroy Quotes

I feel like I came through this year stronger and wiser, and I can go into 2015 in a much better place.

I'm happy with the success I've had, and I feel like there's been a lot that I've learned this year, and that's a great thing going into the future.

If I'm playing in the morning, I'll get some carbs early: porridge with chopped banana. If I'm playing in the afternoon, I'll start with less carbs and have some eggs and fruit for breakfast, then a light lunch about 90 minutes before I play, so I don't feel sluggish or full.

I kept telling myself this word, process. Focus on my process, don't care about the result.

I don't really remember, but from about the age of five I told anyone who would listen that I was going to be the best golfer in the world.

I think there came a time - probably when I was about 13 - when I started to struggle with an increasing volume of schoolwork and the demands from my golfing schedule and aspirations. I'm not sure if the decision to leave school was very clear in my mind then but I did know that in the juggling between the two, my energies were most definitely in the golfing direction.

Everything is firing on all cylinders for me.

I was detained a couple of times but that was for not handing in homework because I was playing golf or not present because I was playing golf. There was a theme evolving.

It's been 18 months since I won on the European Tour and to win the flagship event, I could not have asked for any more.

I really enjoy playing 'Tiger Woods' on the Wii, and you can set the levels to easy, medium, or hard, so I think it's definitely a good way for kids to learn the motion of a golf swing if they want to get into the sport. It makes it more fun for them as well.

I have always said I will try to answer questions honestly. I don't want to change that about myself. I think people appreciate that about me.

The next time I cry about golf it will only be with joy. It's not worth crying over golf for any other reason. After all, it's only a game.

I expect big things from myself but as long as I can keep the commitment and dedication and put the hard work in, I don't see why there's any reason not to handle it OK.

I always got very excited about the Masters as a kid. I could hardly wait until the Wednesday when you'd get the BBC's preview. And I'd then be glued to the screen until Sunday night.

I've had support from all sides, from people who call themselves Irish, from Northern Irish, to the whole of the UK, to people in America, and it would be terrible for me to segregate myself from one of those groups that support me so much.

Because I lived so close to the school and walked there every day, I used to enjoy the school bus trips.

I wanted to make a point of basing myself at home, being close to my family. I'll never be able to repay Mum and Dad for what they did, but at least they know they'll never have to work another day. I'll do whatever it takes to look after them.

I'm afraid there are no replays or second chances in amateur or professional golf, and that's the way it should be.

I realise that every time my face is on TV or I'm playing in a tournament, that I am a role model for a lot of people and a lot of kids do look up to me. I try to do my best in that regard and put myself across as honestly and as modestly as possible, as well.

In a serious sense, wanting to change something from the past doesn't work for me - change something you don't enjoy now rather than regretting it later.

I was very excited when I first started to travel so much. In fact, I was amazed that people were paying me to travel to play the game I loved.

The fact is, I've always felt more British than Irish. Maybe it was the way I was brought up, I don't know, but I have always felt more of a connection with the U.K. than with Ireland.

My parent are very proud, but Dad ripped into me for throwing a club on the 11th. He's happy with the way I played, but he always has to have something to moan about!

It is never easy to win but it is a lot easier to win when you play well. The key is winning golf tournaments when you are not playing so well. Managing your game is something that I feel that I am still learning to do.

I believe that anybody with Mandela's capacity to endure hardship and then forgive is a born leader and example to us all.

I receive huge support from Irish and British sports fans alike and it is greatly appreciated. Likewise I feel I have a great affinity with the American sports fans. I play most of my golf in the U.S. nowadays and I am incredibly proud to have won the U.S. Open and U.S. PGA Championship in the last two years.

With success comes expectation, and I know the expectation on me is going to be pretty high.

Fitness plays such an important role in my life, and an integral part of my golf structure, that I think I might be quite good at teaching others the benefits of sport and fitness.

You know I need that cockiness, the self-belief, arrogance, swagger, whatever you want to call it, I need that on the golf course to bring the best out of myself. So you know once I leave the golf course, you know that all gets left there.

The Open is the one that we all want and strive for and to be able to hold this Claret Jug is an incredible feeling. To be three legs towards the career grand slam at the age of 25 is a pretty good achievement. It's not going to sink in for a while.

It's a great feeling to know that I've played the best golf throughout the season of any of the guys for the second time in three years, it's really nice.

To be a top-class athlete, you have to train hard, you have to eat right, you have to get enough rest. I feel the way golf is going nowadays, you have to treat yourself as an athlete.

Going to the gym is great for your body, but it's also great for your mind.

My game wasn't where it should have been at all at the start of the year. I got into a couple of bad habits on my swing, and it just took me a little bit of time to get out of them.

You get thrown off balance out there. And I never recovered. Well, I haven't recovered yet.

Leaving golf aside for the moment, I'd choose Roger Federer as a sporting role model, Muhammad Ali for a sporting and non-sporting role model and Nelson Mandela as a true and lasting inspiration.

How can I intimidate Tiger Woods? I mean, the guy's got 75 or whatever PGA Tour wins, 14 majors. He's been the biggest thing ever in our sport. How could some little 23-year-old from Northern Ireland with a few wins come up and intimidate him.

I started to really believe in myself, and my abilities, when I won the World Under-10 championship in Doral, Florida. I was nine and saw for the first time that I was amongst the best players in the world for my age. This was a massive confidence-builder for me.

My dad's a scratch golfer and I've got the knack of seeing something and then replicating it. I saw my dad swing a club and I worked out how to do the same thing. My backswing and follow-through have been basically the same since I was two.

I've always said the players don't build up rivalries themselves, people from the outside build up the rivalries. I just want to play good golf. I want to try and keep winning golf tournaments.

I want to try to become the best golfer in the world.

I’m three legs toward completing the career Grand Slam at 25. So, I’m feeling pretty good right now.

It may come as a surprise but I also really started to get into history while I was at school. I found the projects about World War Two fascinating - perhaps when I get the time again, I could pick up where I left off.

Sport was an obvious favourite of mine, and not only golf. I was, and still am, a big rugby fan.

If somebody asks me whether I'd rather sink the winning putt in the Ryder Cup or win a major, it's the major every day. World championship or Ryder Cup? Win a world championship. At the end of the day you're going to be remembered for what you achieve in an individual sport.

I used to not really like going to the gym when I was playing tournaments because I'd be sore and stiff. But the more you keep doing it, the less soreness you have. And you actually start to enjoy it.

In all honesty, I never actually did anything wrong (in my eyes, at least) at school or misbehaved in any big way. If it was anything, it was probably just a lot of clowning around.

I mean I don't want to feel inferior to any other golfer in the world. You know if you do that, then you know you're giving them an advantage, you know, right off the - you know, right from the start.