Rory McIlroy has opened up about the sweet thing he did with his daughter to distract himself the day before his historic Masters win.
Rory left golf fans on the edge of their seats during a sudden-death playoff against fellow golfer Justin Rose last month, securing his green jacket with a nail-biting win.
Speaking on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Rory said he tried to distract himself from the tournament in the days beforehand by watching TV with his family.
Rory said he was trying not to watch coverage of the tournament or any sports news at all.
Instead he was watching Bridgerton with his wife, Erica Stoll which he said was initially her choice but he ended up loving.
Then, on the Saturday morning, he watched Zooptopia with his four-and-a-half year old daughter, Poppy.
Speaking about his daughter’s epic putt, where she showed off her golf skills at the Masters, Rory said she got very overwhelmed and started to cry a bit.
“So I picked her up and then when we got back to the clubhouse, she wanted to see the video. So, she looked at it and she’s like studying it and she looked at me and she went ‘I think it’s ok dad, I don’t think they caught me crying’.”
During the interview, Rory said Poppy and Shane Lowry’s daughter Iris, who also stole the show at the Masters, were having a sleepover together that night.
The Northern Irish man previously revealed that Poppy asked her dad a question on her way home from crèche on the Friday that really fuelled his fire to win the Grand Slam.
Speaking in an interview with Sky Sports, Rory shared:“They have a daycare here,” he said. “She came back on Friday wearing a T-shirt with all the past Masters champions listed on the back. She looked at it and asked me, ‘Daddy, why isn’t your name on this T-shirt?’
“I said to her, ‘Poppy, next year, my name’s going to be on the back of that T-shirt.’”
Rory said he hopes his daughter realises when she’s older how ‘perseverance’ is at the heart of his story.
“There were a lot of years I came here and wasn’t able to achieve what I wanted,” he said.
“But I never let that discourage me or get me down. I kept coming back. I kept giving it another go. That’s the story I would tell her — and that’s why it means so much to so many people.”
“The one thing I would say to my daughter Poppy over there, Never give up on your dreams,” Rory said.
“Never, ever give up on your dreams.
“Keep coming back, keep working hard, and if you put your mind to it you can do anything. Love you.”
