Johnston: What the Maple Leafs can learn from Rory McIlroy's Masters breakthrough

What made Rory McIlroys win at the Masters so compelling was not the place in his sports all-time history it bestowed upon him or the way he rose to the top of a star-studded leaderboard.

It was that after all that high-profile losing the 21 top-10 finishes in majors since last winning one, including multiple soul-crushing misses McIlroy pushed through a hurricane of doubts and got the job done.

Advertisement It wasnt always pretty, nor was it perfect, and that somehow made it feel more profound.

Every time he made a mistake, he came back and did something fantastic, Dr.

Bob Rotella, McIlroys sports psychologist, said in an interview with BBC Radio.

It is like he had a will that was made of steel.

He kept bouncing back no matter what they threw at him.

Thats obviously a mindset and an approach that could benefit someone in any profession, but McIlroys performance should resonate particularly strongly across the sporting world.

Listening to how the 35-year-old spoke of navigating his demons to claim the green jacket certainly seemed to provide a roadmap worth copying by core members of the Toronto Maple Leafs, now just days away from opening the Stanley Cup playoffs.

(Editors note: Insert joke here about how everything is always about the Leafs.) The Leafs, of course, are no strangers to heartache.

They own the NHLs longest active playoff streak at nine seasons and will carry a 1-8 overall record in the series theyve played during that stretch into their next one.

That includes five Game 7 losses and a Game 5 loss in a best-of-five series.

What McIlroy and the Leafs have (or had) in common is the nature of their failures.

They were only possible because of the success that preceded them.

The vast majority of other pro golfers would gladly take McIlroys career record in majors, even if you removed his five victories in those events from the equation.

Put another way: Most of McIlroys peers would be thrilled to fail the way he has failed.

Similarly, you can be sure the Buffalo Sabres or Detroit Red Wings would gladly trade places with Toronto during the past decade because its only possible to fall short in as many winner-take-all games as they have by qualifying for the playoffs every season and pushing an opponent to the brink in the first place.

Advertisement Go back to 2016-17 and the Leafs have the third-highest cumulative points percentage over the past nine NHL seasons at .638 behind only the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning.

It plummeted to a .421 winning percentage in the 57 playoff games during that stretch, but theyve at least kept giving themselves a chance to change the ending.

At the Masters, McIlroy credited Rotella with the work theyve done together on the mental side of his game, particularly after he coughed up a late lead at last summers U.S.

Open with two short putts missed in the closing stretch of holes.

He said the veteran sports psychologist asked him if he could endure another heartbreak because thats what he had to risk doing to put himself back in position again.

At a certain point in life, someone doesnt want to fall in love because they dont want to get their heart broken, McIlroy told reporters.

Instinctually as human beings, we hold back sometimes because of the fear of getting hurt, whether thats a conscious decision or subconscious decision.

Were he so inclined, McIlroy found himself with numerous opportunities where he might have fallen into the trap of thinking here we go again during a rollercoaster Masters, starting with two double bogeys in the final four holes on Thursday and including the five shots he dropped to par on Sundays back nine.

And yet McIlroy pushed on and pulled off the shots needed to shed all the excess baggage hed been accumulating on his shoulders for a decade.

Every time you get your heart broken, you have to bounce back, and it makes for a better story but you have to have the guts to keep going after it, Rotella said.

A lot (of athletes) give up on themselves.

I admire the heck out of him because he didnt.

There will be a lot of talk in the coming days about how this version of the Leafs is different, and thats certainly true.

The Leafs have a rebuilt blue line and better goaltending than years past, plus a first-year head coach in Craig Berube.

But theyve also got three core pieces whove experienced each of these playoff disappointments, and its hard to imagine anything special happening in Toronto this spring without Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander being a massive part of driving it.

Advertisement Add in John Tavares and Morgan Rielly, and youve got a fair bit of accrued scar tissue in that dressing room.

They can certainly identify with how McIlroy felt up to the point of his breakthrough Masters moment over the weekend.

Can they summon a similar resolve when the spotlight gets brightest? Successful NHL teams have long sought outside help with their psychological approaches, not unlike McIlroy did with Rotella.

Tony Robbins celebrated the Washington Capitals breakthrough Stanley Cup victory in 2018 after counseling players throughout that season, and George Mumford was on the ice with the Edmonton Oilers a year ago after they booked their ticket to the Final.

The Leafs make those resources available to their players privately and confidentially.

Previously, they employed peak performance coach Greg Harden, who has worked with Tom Brady and Michael Phelps, among others, during a long career at the University of Michigan.

Perhaps they can now take a page out of McIlroys book, too.

Theres a pretty good tailwind at the Leafs back entering the playoffs thanks to a 16-6-2 run since the 4 Nations Face-Off.

They are one point from clinching the Atlantic Division and setting up a first-round matchup with the Ottawa Senators, who would be heavy underdogs in their first playoff appearance since 2017.

The playoff bracket overall looks to be setting up more favorably for a long run than in the past, but the Leafs are effectively in the same position as McIlroy was when he started Sundays final round with a two-shot lead.

Theres plenty of reason for hope and optimism, sure, but its still a long way to the clubhouse, and theyre going to have to bounce back with some birdies after the bogeys inevitably arrive.

Just like Rory.

(Top photos of Rory McIlroy, Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews: Katie Goodale and John E.

Sokolowski / Imagn Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6279229/2025/04/15/maple-leafs-nhl-playoffs-rory-mcilroy-masters/