Episode 694 - Perseverance

In this episode, Phil explores the powerful story of Rory McIlroy, who has faced numerous challenges and setbacks throughout his career. From his early successes as a junior golfer to his heartbreaking collapse at the 2011 Masters, Rory's journey is a testament to the power of perseverance and redemption. Join us as we recount Rory's incredible comeback, culminating in his triumphant victory at the 2025 Masters. Discover how he overcame personal and professional obstacles, learned from his mistakes, and ultimately achieved his dream of winning the career Grand Slam.

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Transcript 

Hello everyone. This is Phil. I just wanna take a moment to thank each of you for your steady listening habits of being part of the Mojo community. Today, I wanna take a few minutes and reflect a bit on the goofs that we make in our lives and the ways that we come back from them. We're gonna do that by sharing the story of a young man by the name of Rory McIlroy, the most recent winner of the career, grand Slamming Golf, and the reigning masters champion.

I had a chance to see Rory play golf in the Masters this year. And what I watched was a story that goes well beyond golf. I hope you enjoy.

Top performers in every field surround themselves with those who inspire them, who seek to build them up, and who push them to reach beyond their current limits. I'm Phil Buchanan, executive chairman of Cannon Financial Institute. I designed Monday Morning Mojo to provide you with a weekly spark, a push and motivational insight to live your best life.

Thanks for joining. Hello Cannon Nation. It is Phil here with episode 694 of Monday Morning Mojo. Most of the mistakes or goofs that we make in life are shielded from public view. Yet with the advent of the camera phone and the society's thirst for posting sensational videos, many have found what we're once considered minor goofs.

To be YouTube worthy trending embarrassments. Now, luckily, few, uh, mistakes are ever published for public consumption, but those that are usually hang around for the proverbial 15 minutes of fame and then fade into oblivion. Now most of our mistakes are only seen by select few, perhaps family, friends, or coworkers.

And since the majority of our mistakes aren't life or death issues, the person bothered most by our mistakes is ourselves. Now, I don't love making mistakes, but I've become more tolerant. Of my own and correspondingly more tolerant of others' mistakes. Now, when I was a younger man, uh, I was quite intolerant of eras.

Be the Mind or others, you know, I guess I thought that most mistakes were situational character flaws. Uh, I assume that there was a right way to do most things, and if you simply did the proper steps of the process, then the results would follow. And when success did follow. I often found it hard to actually get excited by the success because, well, wasn't that what should have occurred yet when success didn't follow moan anxieties and frustrations set in?

It was during one of those times that I got some wonderful counseling from an older mentor. Now, to paraphrase his counsel, he told me that humans are prone to making mistakes. It's impossible to prevent all mistakes. The key. He advised was to acknowledge the mistake. Stop the actions that caused the mistake.

Chart a path forward, learned from what has happened, and then use that experience to be better in the future. The country music Duo Brothers Osborne once joined with Dirks Bentley to sing a song entitled Burning Man. Now a lyric in that song sung by TJ Osborne really captures my mentors admonishment perfectly.

It goes, I still don't get it right sometimes I just don't get it as wrong. AKA mistakes will happen to us throughout our life, but with reflection and experience, hopefully the magnitude of those eras become less and less and the recoveries more swift. Now, this story of gaps and mistakes and redemption were in my mind.

One recent Sunday while I was watching Rory McIlroy in his final round of the Master's golf tournament. Uh, Rory as a young kid was a very accomplished junior golfer. He turned professional at age 17 in 2007. He won his first professional, uh, tournament on the European tour in 2090 at his first PGA tour victory in 2010, and he won his first major, the US Open in 2011.

Yet what makes Rory's US Open Championship in 2011, in June of that year? All that more interesting is it was in April of that year that Rory experienced some of his most memorable errors. See, in April of 2011, Rory went into the final round of the Master's golf tournament with a four shot lead. Yet on that afternoon, he shot an 80, leaving himself in 15th place, but also leaving those mistakes for public consumption, both of golf fans, and of himself.

Now. In 2012, McIlroy won the PGA championship. That was the second of his majors only remained the open championship in the UK and of course the masters to complete the Grand Slam. He captured the open Championship in July of 2014 and followed that up with another PGA championship in August of 2014.

The only major now looting, Rory McIlroy was the masters. That sight of his great collapse in April of 2011. Rory's first shot of capturing the career Grand Slam by winning his fourth and final major. The masters came in 2015, but he would wind up finishing fourth in 2016. He finished 10th in 2017. He finished seventh in 2018, fifth in 20 19, 20 first in 2020 fifth.

In 2021, he missed the cut entirely. In 2022, he finished second in 2023, another miscut, and then last year in 2024, he finished 22nd. Adding to his golf challenges, the public would learn through reports that he and his wife had marital problems. All of this plus his struggles and winning at the side of his major collapse.

Wade on McIlroy. Yet he simply kept moving forward, attempting to compartmentalize, and working on elevating his game. On Wednesday this year before the Masters tournament, the players participated in a par three tournament. This is an annual event where many of the players bring their spouses and their children along as caddies, and they will allow them to hit a shot or perhaps try to make a putt.

A little glimmer of hope was in the air as McIlroy's daughter Poppy was given the task to try and make a putt on one of the greens. That's a big ask of anyone, much less of a 4-year-old. She timidly tapped the ball and watched as it began a slow roll down the sloping green. After several tantalizing seconds, Poppy's putt found the bottom of the hole, and Daddy McIlroy.

Exploded with genuine excitement and pride, pure joy. But would that last. Well, in Thursday's first round, it saw him have two very bad double bogies. The curse of Augusta continued to hang around even though he shot a par 72 for that first round, and that included those two doubles. Round two. Saw him shoot 66, including an Eagle three at the par five 15th.

All of this, a very positive sign leading into the weekend round three, added to the magic as Rory had a three on each of his first six holes. That's three birdies and eagle, and two pars. Seemingly he was on fire. Perhaps this would be his year to run away with it. He went into Sunday with a two stroke lead and a chance for his first Master's title.

His lead, however, was gone that Sunday by the first hole, as Rory had a double bogey on the first, but he recovered and went on to shoot one under par for that first nine holes. He was still one to par for the day as he approached the par five 13th, the hole. He had equaled in round two and birdie just one day before yet on Sunday.

A mis hit third shot on that 13th went into the water causing McIlroy to eventually double bogey the hole. Again, another goof, a very public goof in his goth. Rory then went on to bogey hole 14, and it appeared if a overall collapse was intimate. Yet gathering his wits. Rory approached the par five 15th and hit a solid drive, but that drive ended up being in a blocked position for a direct approach for his second shot.

Yet he gathered himself and hit an amazing draw to five feet. He would two putt from there for birdie. After another birdie on the 17th, Rory was now back in the lead by one, so he approached the final hole needing to make par better, and he was the champion. He bogeyed after all the failings and fixings over the prior 14 years.

After all the mistakes and redemptions, Rory had once again. Appeared to be on the cusp of letting the Master's Green jacket slip away. He and his good friend Justin Rose, who had tied earlier, would go to a sudden death playoff. Rose teed off first and hit an almost perfect drive, Howard Rory React. He stood over his tee shot and made an almost perfect swing besting rose momentous drive.

Meaning that Rose would hit his approach shot first, which he did, is a wonderful shot to about 15 feet. He would have a chance for birdie. The pressure was now squarely again upon Rory McIlroy, yet from 125 yards. Rory would hit it. His approach shot to four feet following rose's putt, sliding by the hole for a par.

Rory was four feet from immortality winning the Masters and becoming only the sixth person in history to win the career Grand Slam. I think the world was holding its collective breath as McIlroy brought his putter back and through, and the world exploded in jubilation when the ball dropped into the cup.

14 years after that monumental collapse in 2011 and 11 years after capturing his third of the four majors, Rory McIlroy could rejoice. No one who saw his reaction will forget the tears and the exaltation. It was years of work of opportunities, loss of frustration. Of success pouring out and combining with relief of finally, finally closing the deal.

There were numerous opportunities in the 89th playing of the Masters golf tournament where Rory could have again, let it all get away, but he kept coming back. He would make the eras, but then he would seemingly dust himself off and refocus and create a momentous next shot. Yes, McIlroy makes millions each year.

Yes. He would've been financially just fine without winning the Masters. He would still have eventually been elected into the Golf Hall of Fame. He kept his sight on the goal he endured when diversity struck, he came back. When he goofed, he forgave himself, refocused and redeemed himself. It's a lesson for us all.

Yes, we are all going to goof and sometimes spectacularly, sometimes in a very public way. It's not preventing every goof. It's how we handle ourselves when we do make mistakes from that moment on our actions. Well, that's what really counts. Rory was able to persevere because he had had experiences with failure.

He had taken those lessons of those failures and had learned and studied them. Hopefully had the opportunity as he did that Sunday to apply them. Uh, none of us will ever be perfect. We can eliminate a few, but never all of our mistakes. What we can do is take the lessons learned from those mistakes and apply them in the future.

Perhaps the biggest lesson that I take away from this is perseverance and redemption. You can't redeem yourself if you allow mistakes and prior failings to define you. They, the mistakes, well, they're gonna happen. But if you persevere, if you stay in the game and if you keep your focus on the goal, well, all you need to do is rewatch Rory's walk from the playoff, whole win to the clubhouse that Sunday in April of 2025.

From the look on his face, I don't think anything can be as sweet as having once failed spectacularly and then coming back to win it all. Monday morning Mojo is production of Cannon Financial Institute, executive producer of Monday Morning. Mojo is Sarah Jones. Editing and mixing is done by Danny Brunner.

Until next time, I'm Phil Buchanan reminding you to be a
Text force for good. Have a great week and thanks for being part of the Mojo community.