The champions’ dinner for Rory McIlroy was highly rated by his peers. The food was a pleasant surprise and the speech prepared by the Northern Irishman struck a chord. The Grand Slam Career champion a year ago at Augusta managed to convey what it means to him to belong to such an exclusive club that gathers at that champions’ dinner.
One of Rory’s nicest touches was that during his speech he had heartfelt words in memory of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, the two most unexpected absences of the night, one due to the car accident he suffered a little over a week ago and the other because of the personal issue that has barely allowed him to play a tournament so far this year. A nice gesture from Rory. By the way, Tiger Woods is in Switzerland, in one of the world’s most famous detox clinics.
Además, McIlroy tocó la fibra sensible con sus palabras sobre cuánto deseaba poder compartir con ellos mesa y mantel. “It was great. The food was incredible. It has been one of the best dinners we’ve had. His choices were fantastic. And great stories were told. Obviously he completed the Grand Slam and won the Masters, which was something others had been reminding him of for a long time, and probably he had been reminding himself too. You saw what it meant to him last year. And now he returns to enjoy the privileges that come with coming back as the defending champion,” explained this Wednesday Jordan Spieth. He added: “The steak was spectacular. The wagyu steak was very, very good”. In this respect, Rory himself had already joked about the matter at his Tuesday morning appearance. He noted that he would not serve Irish food, as ‘he also wanted to enjoy the food’. It seems he succeeded.
Regarding the dinner, Rory preferred not to go into many details about his speech, but he did make clear the idea he wanted to convey. “Honestly, what sticks with me is how lucky I am to be part of that group. I don’t take it for granted. I said it last night in the room. All of us who were there were the envy of the sporting world. Everyone would have loved to be in that room and, certainly, I never want to take it for granted. I tried to approach it as if it were the only time I was going to be hosting a dinner. I hope it isn’t. But if it is, I tried to do it the right way and I just hope everyone had a great night,” he said.
One of the surprises of the dinner was that Adam Scott took the floor to tell an anecdote about Rory. “The truth is I didn’t have anything prepared. It wasn’t planned. I talked about the first time I played with Rory (Qatar Masters 2008), I went over his career a bit and expressed the feeling that all of the champions were watching him win last year with our hearts in our mouths, experiencing every moment with him, because we have all been through something similar. And Rory spoke very well and expressed very well what this means to him. I thought it was nice to acknowledge that we share that with him and that we’re proud to have him in the Masters club”
