The story of Rory McIlroy
We hung out with Rory McIlroy, and spoke to others in his circle, about reawakening his passion for golf
Editor's Note: This article was Golf Digest's cover story in 2015 ahead of McIlroy's first attempt at completing the Career Grand Slam. The in-depth profile by Jaime Diaz is a fascinating read after McIlroy completed the slam last year and followed it up with a second Masters title in 2026 . Amid the steel beams and industrial chic of a vast Chelsea Piers gym on the West Side of Manhattan, Rory McIlroy is right at home—high-tech fitness shirt straining across his broad back, vein-popping forearms, sharply defined jawline, curly locks cropped close.
Everything is sleek, strong and stylish. McIlroy is 25, and the mop-haired, slightly puffy, rosy-cheeked cherub who a few years ago couldn't stand on one leg for more than a few seconds is gone. McIlroy is in full workout regalia in one of his favorite cities not because he's meeting his sport scientist/ trainer, Dr.
Stephen McGregor, for one of their intense 90-minute sessions, but because he's doing a photo shoot for the brand of headphones he endorses. But when an assistant brings a spray bottle to McIlroy to simulate perspiration, the world No. 1 politely declines before hopping on a spinning cycle to churn hard for a full five minutes.
The moisture he raises could have been produced with a few well-placed spritzes, but McIlroy is pleased by the authenticity of his effort. With the same playful pride from the week before, when he tweeted a photo of himself lifting 280 pounds, accompanied by the message, Better never stops, he points to his damp shirt and says, "That's earned. " There is no zealot like a convert, and these days McIlroy is willing to invest whatever sweat equity will get him to the highest reaches of excellence.
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