By being a lousy fiance, Rory McIlroy has again become a terrific golfer.
Since breaking off his engagement with Danish tennis star Caroline Wozniacki in late May — Right after the wedding invitations went out! In a brief phone call that so surprised Wozniacki she initially thought it was a joke! — McIlroy has won the BMW PGA Championship in Europe that very week, the British Open last month, the WGC-Bridgestone last week and now the PGA Championship on Sunday.
Since the 25-year-old from Northern Ireland had gotten engaged on last New Year's Eve and up to the break-up, he had zero victories on the PGA Tour or in any international event. In fact, in his best fiance finish, McIlroy gave away a last-day lead at the Honda Classic with a back-nine 38 that included two bogeys and a double-bogey and then a loss in the four-man playoff.
Fast forward to this past weekend's PGA, and McIlroy didn't shy away from saying that his golf has benefited from his having dumped Wozniacki.
"I think what happened has been for the better in terms of my golf," he said after two rounds of the season's last major. "I've put a bit more time into it, and it has refocused me. I mean, what else do I have to do now?
"I go to the golf course, I go to the gym and it's just my life at the minute."
Yeah, no worries about centerpiece choices or cake tastings.
"The past couple of months, I've really just buried myself in my game. It obviously works pretty well, so I am going to keep doing it."
As for Wozniacki, last month she won her first WTA title since October 2013 with a victory in the Istanbul Cup, and she just lost a tight, three-set quarterfinal to Serena Williams at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. Wozniacki also announced last month that she would run in the New York City Marathon, saying, "November opened up for me, so why not?"
The wedding was reportedly scheduled to take place in November.
And with the benefit of years gone by, maybe both will come to be on friendly terms. After all, it was just last week that Billy Joel performed "Uptown Girl" with the Girl herself, his ex-wife Christie Brinkley, cheering him from the front row.
