Sometimes all you need is a little motivation.
Rory McIlroy's torrid 2019 season has included four victories and vaulted him to No. 2 in the world rankings. But it's come while he's been juggling off-course priorities, like moving into a new house in South Florida with his wife, Erica.
The couple is now putting the finishing touches on the home and recently moved in, but it was only upon returning from another win at the WGC-HSBC Champions earlier this month that McIlroy was reunited with some of his most prized possessions.
"We still hadn't moved everything in, and the trophy cabinet hadn't been built. And then I got back from China, walked into our sort of game room and up on the wall were all the trophies and stuff," McIlroy said after the opening round of the DP World Tour Championship. "All that stuff had been in storage for a year and a half. So first time I'd seen the claret jug, and the U.S. Open trophy and all that sort of stuff."
McIlroy can't add another Race to Dubai title to his growing collection, but he's still in the mix for his third career victory at the European Tour's season finale after an 8-under 64 that left him one shot back in Dubai. Having turned 30 in May and closing out one of the best years of his accomplished career, McIlroy explained that seeing all his past hardware served as "a nice reminder" that he'd still like to add to the collection.
"It's cool," he said, "but it's also a great motivator to think, 'I'm still pretty early in my career and I've done quite a lot, but I still want to do so much more.'"