Rory McIlroy - August 15, 2012

• By Morning Drive Team
• Aug 15, 2012 8:56 AM ET

World #1 Rory McIlroy earned his second career Major Championship win last week in the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island with a record 8 stroke win over David Lynn. He said that he was not sure why he became so emotional when he hugged his father after making the final putt on the 18th green on Sunday. The whole moment of winning his second Major after going through some struggles this year was very overwhelming and the weight of the moment sank in very quickly. In fact, he nearly started crying when he saw his father before his birdie putt at 18.

He has been working on his game very hard over the past few months and he decided that going into the PGA Championship, his main swing thought would be to have no swing thoughts. He felt good about Kiawah Island from the very beginning of the week and he just decided to go out and play golf without being too mechanical. It clearly worked very well.

You are always going to be nervous when you enter the final round of a Major with the lead. On the second hole on Sunday, he rushed his second shot and hooked it into the trees. He was very fortunate to end up with a good lie and he was able to hit a great shot to the green. After that moment, he was able to be much more relaxed for the rest of the round.

When asked about how he celebrated the win on Sunday, McIlroy said that it had been a very long day before adding that he actually went home after finishing the third round and took a nap. His father woke him up before the final round and he arrived at the course 30 minutes before his tee time. McIlroy admitted that he had two Diet Cokes and a cookie to celebrate and also said that Keegan Bradley told him that you could fit 17 ½ pints of liquid into the Wanamaker Trophy.

When he hugged his father on the 18th green, he said that he told his Dad how unbelievable the entire moment was and he recalled that his father told him to stop crying. It was an incredible moment and to be able to have two moments like that with his father is a great blessing.

Looking ahead to the Ryder Cup, McIlroy said that he has not spoken with Captain Jose Maria Olazabal about possible pairings yet although he would expect to play with Graeme McDowell. They played together at Celtic Manor in 2010 and he doubts that anyone would be surprised to see them together at Medinah.

He will play in an 18-hole match with Tiger Woods in China on October 29th which is the Monday after the BMW Masters in Shanghai on the European Tour and the CIMB Classic in Malaysia on the PGA TOUR. He will go to the event from the Shanghai Masters while Tiger will go there from Malaysia. He has never participated in something like this before with Tiger and he is looking forward to it.