Golf:Rory McIlroy has spoken of a 90-minute one-to-one talk with Jack Nicklaus which he hopes will help him achieve his golfing dreams. "It was an unbelievable experience," said the 20-year-old, now in Miami for the this week's WGC-CA Championship.
McIlroy, who has begun working with American sports psychologist Bob Rotella, added: “One of the reasons why I wanted to go to Bob was to try to finish the job off a bit more and be a more clinical.
“Jack’s been the best at winning and was probably the most clinical of them all.
“It was great to sit down and talk with him (at lunch during last week’s Honda Classic) and see his approach to winning, what went through his head whenever he was in contention and what things he might have done differently to other people.
“It was probably the best 90 minutes I’ve spent in a long time. He said the best ever tournament he played he didn’t win - The 1977 British Open at Turnberry when Tom Watson beat him - and there were other times where he didn’t play his best, but got the job done.
“One of the biggest things I took from it was patience. Just learn to wait and learn to bide your time and know that if you believe in yourself it will happen.
“He had a lot more majors handed to him than he went out and won.”
The Holywood golfer has risen swiftly to ninth in the world rankings but has just a solitary win from the European Tour at the Dubai Desert Classic.
"He sort of got in touch with us and he heard that I was going to work with Bob Rotella just to sort of work out a mental approach to things,” added McIlroy of the meeting.
McIlroy said that Nicklaus, who won 73 times on the PGA Tour and holds the record of 18 majors, had indicated that a golfer needs to accept that sometimes the best performance doesn't always bring the best result.
"I felt very privileged to have lunch with him and just pick his brain. He's won 18 major championships and just to get some of that knowledge and to just learn from it was just incredible".
McIlroy is joined in Miami by Pádraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell with all three Irish players looking for a better showing than last week’s Honda Classic where the trio finished well down the field.
The three Irish players find themselves in high profile groups with McIlroy to play alongside Phil Mickelson and Retief Goosen for the opening two rounds. Harrington is in the same group as Ian Poulter and Geoff Ogilvy, while McDowell will tee it up alongside Anthony Kim and Angel Cabrera.
Tee-times for the first two rounds of the WGC-CA Championship at TPC Blue Monster at Doral, Miami, Florida on Thursday and Friday (USA unless stated, all times Irish):
1st tee Thursday, 10th tee Friday
4.25pm and 5.28pm Simon Dyson (Gbr), Jason Dufner, Edoardo Molinari (Ita)
4.35pm and 5.38pm YE Yang (Kor), John Senden (Aus), Peter Hanson (Swe)
4.46pm and 5.49pm Lucas Glover, Robert Allenby (Aus), Jim Furyk
4.56pm and 5.59pm Sean O'Hair, Ross Fisher (Gbr), Henrik Stenson (Swe)
5.07pm and 6.10pm Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Jerry Kelly, Francesco Molinari (Ita)
5.17pm and 4.25pm Heath Slocum, Kevin Na, Marc Leishman (Aus)
5.28pm and 4.35pm Oliver Wilson (Gbr), Michael Sim (Aus), Ryan Palmer
5.38pm and 4.46pm Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Vijay Singh (Fij), Ben Crane
5.49pm and 4.56pm Ian Poulter (Gbr), Geoff Ogilvy (Aus),
Pádraig Harrington (Ire)
5.59pm and 5.07pm Steve Stricker, Ernie Els (Rsa), Sergio Garcia (Spa)
6.10pm and 5.17pm Dustin Johnson, Mike Weir (Can), Adam Scott (Aus)
10th tee Thursday, 1st tee Friday
4.25pm and 5.28pm Ross McGowan (Gbr), Matt Kuchar, Anders Hansen (Den)
4.35pm and 5.38pm Liang Wen-chong (Chi), Tim Clark (Rsa), Scott Verplank
4.46pm and 5.49pm Nick Watney, David Toms, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa)
4.56pm and 5.59pm Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen (Rsa),
Rory McIlroy (N Irl)
5.07pm and 6.10pm Lee Westwood (Gbr), Camilo Villegas (Col), Martin Kaymer (Ger)
5.17pm and 6.20pm Anthony Kim,
Graeme McDowell (N Irl), Angel Cabrera (Arg)
5.28pm and 4.25pm Steve Marino, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa)
5.38pm and 4.35pm Soren Hansen (Den), Zach Johnson, Bill Haas
5.49pm and 4.46pm Yuta Ikeda (Jpn), Alistair Presnell (Aus), JB Holmes
5.59pm and 4.56pm Luke Donald (Gbr), Robert Karlsson (Swe), Kenny Perry
6.10pm and 5.07pm Stewart Cink, Paul Casey (Gbr), Hunter Mahan
6.20pm and 5.17pm Brian Gay, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Thongchai Jaidee (Thai)