{"id":358428,"date":"2025-12-19T14:22:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T14:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/358428\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T14:22:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T14:22:07","slug":"a-great-night-for-golf-mcilroy-hails-spoty-success-after-individual-and-team-awards-bbc-sports-personality-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/358428\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A great night for golf\u2019: McIlroy hails Spoty success after individual and team awards | BBC Sports Personality of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moments before Rory McIlroy<\/a> was named BBC\u2019s Sports Personality of the Year, and the cream of British sport rose to applaud him, a nervy thought raced through his mind. \u201cI was, like, not an F1 driver again \u2026 \u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This time, though, there was no late twist. Lando Norris was unable to emulate Lewis Hamilton, who had pipped McIlroy when the Northern Irishman was a warm favourite in 2014. And with Europe\u2019s Ryder Cup winners<\/a> also being named team of the year, a delighted McIlroy was able to reflect on blockbuster night for him and his sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a great night for golf,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s been golfers that have been up for this award that haven\u2019t quite done it, and I\u2019ve been one of them in the past. But golf was recognised in such a big way, with the team winning and then with my award. It\u2019s a big night for golf, and hopefully we can build upon that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But rather than celebrate at the aftershow party, McIlroy was already focusing on his next sporting adventure. Having played in the Golf Channel Games in Florida on Wednesday, and flown to the UK for the awards, he was heading straight back to the sunshine state to watch Anthony Joshua\u2019s fight with Jake Paul<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a whirlwind 24 hours,\u201d said McIlroy. \u201cI landed here today, went straight to the Stick to Football studio and did that with the boys. Hopping on a plane on Friday, I\u2019m going to the AJ-Jake Paul fight in Miami. So I\u2019ve sort of been here, there, and everywhere, but I\u2019m looking forward to a little bit of downtime over Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, McIlroy said that he has no plans to rest on his laurels, despite completing the career grand slam with victory at Augusta in April. \u201cI still feel like I\u2019ve got a few good years in me,\u201d he said. \u201cKnock on wood, I\u2019ve been injury-free. I\u2019ve been on tour for half my life, 18 years, but still feel the enthusiasm for the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore majors, order of merit titles<\/a>, Ryder Cups, that\u2019s great. But as long as you feel like you can keep improving at the game, and have the hunger and the drive to try to keep getting better, that\u2019s the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Tommy Fleetwood, who was on stage to receive Europe\u2019s team of the year award, also lauded golf\u2019s remarkable night \u2013 and his great friend\u2019s achievement.<\/p>\n

Tommy Fleetwood was an important part of Europe\u2019s Ryder Cup-winning team in September. Photograph: David Davies\/PA<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the times and memories that will live with us for ever so to get the public\u2019s recognition for that is really cool,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re very lucky. And to be there watching Rory pick that up, I think he deserves it so much. He\u2019s had such a phenomenal career and a phenomenal year. So to see how happy he was stood on stage, and to be there with him, that was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

When reminded that McIlroy was only the third golfer to win the award in its 71-year history, Fleetwood smiled before quipping: \u201cNot a very popular bunch are we!\u201d<\/p>\n

Fleetwood hopes to finally win his first major next year but he knows McIlroy still thirsts for more success despite having \u201ccompleted golf\u201d at the Masters.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as you want to be the best you can be, and you\u2019re still motivated, you\u2019ll find things that you want to improve,\u201d the 34-year-old said. \u201cGoals come and go. There are things that motivate you, things you want to achieve, things that inspire you. It\u2019s easier for me than it is for Rory McIlroy, probably at the moment. He has kind of completed golf. But I\u2019m sure he\u2019s got a lot more that he wants to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before McIlroy left, there was one final question. As a huge Manchester United fan, he has been asked to parade his trophies at Old Trafford in the past. So could he be persuaded to do it again after his Masters and Spoty triumphs?<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as they stop conceding four goals at home<\/a>,\u201d he replied. \u201cThe last United game I watched was the Europa League final in Bilbao and I was, like: \u2018Why did I fly all this way to watch this?\u2019 But they\u2019re getting better. There\u2019s a few encouraging signs there. There\u2019s a little bit of optimism around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone will agree. But after a 2025 for the ages, it\u2019s no wonder that McIlroy is looking on the bright side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moments before Rory McIlroy was named BBC\u2019s Sports Personality of the Year, and the cream of British sport…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-358428","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}