What did Rory do after winning the Masters...clearing up the gossip.

GolfDigest 75

(Golf Digest senior writer Joel Beall’s debut book, Playing Dirty: Rediscovering Golf's Soul in Scotland in an Age of Sportswashing and Civil War, is on sale now at BackNinePress, Amazon and all major bookstores.)

Photo by Stephen Denton

The Ulsterman said he traveled to London with his wife and daughter to check out the new residence they are building in the city, followed by a trip to Belfast to visit his parents, friends and family.

“Yeah, just to be with them, to be with Erica and Poppy and my mom and dad and to see Michael Bannon, my lifelong coach, and spend a bit more time with Harry and his wife and just celebrate with the people that have been a part of this whole thing for my entire career, my entire life was absolutely amazing,” McIlroy said. “As you can hear, I've picked up a bit of a cold on the way, so feeling a little bit under the weather. But obviously it's been an amazing few days, but I'm excited and I'm happy to be here with my man, and we're looking forward to a great week and trying to defend.”

McIlroy said people of all walks of life reached out to him following his Masters victory, including “two Presidents,” whom he later revealed were Presidents Trump and Obama.

“People that you would never even think that would watch golf or would know what's going on, that was very, very humbling,” McIlroy said. “I think people can see themselves in the struggle at times, and everything that you sort of try to put into getting the best out of yourself in that journey. I think people watching someone finally get it done, something they've been trying to do for a decade plus, I think it resonated with a lot of people.”

If there was one downside to the past week for McIlroy, it sounds like the clubs remained in the proverbial trunk.

“Today is a pretty important day for me. I need to start hitting some balls again and getting back into it,” McIlroy said. “Once I got back from Ireland on Sunday, then when I woke up Monday morning, I could barely get out of bed; I was feeling that bad.

“I think just to be here and feeling better is an achievement. But I need to put a little bit of practice and a bit of work in today to make sure that I don't let [Shane] down this week.”

Bryan Angus (edit)