As mentioned briefly in the Morning 9, Rory McIlroy spoke candidly about his pursuit of major glory.

Now 29 years old, McIlroy won the most recent of his four majors at the 2014 PGA Championship.

However, he seems at peace with his place in the game (and the world).

“Nothing is going to change in my life whether I win a major or not,” said McIlroy ahead of the Irish Open. “I’d be disappointed if I didn’t but I don’t panic. It doesn’t keep me up at night.”

“Look, if I didn’t win another major for the rest of my career, nothing is going to change in my life whether I win one or not, but obviously I don’t feel like I’ll have fulfilled my potential.”

Clearly, this is a healthy orientation with respect to one’s career, isn’t it? Have goals. Work toward them. But don’t let your career define you or dictate your happiness. That said, it’s a surprising admission from a top-tier professional athlete.

He continued in the same vein.

“But at the same time, you know, there’s other things in my life that are more important than golf….I’d be disappointed but again, it’s not going to change things. I don’t panic. It doesn’t keep me up at night.”

We assume too, that how much a player wants to win, thinks about winning, cares about winning dictates how much he does win (to a degree). We assume that anything resembling a blase attitude means a player isn’t practicing, isn’t leaving it all on the court.

But is this true? McIlroy seems to think that winning majors is all about putting yourself in position, and that’s what he aims to do.

“I’ve got two more chances this year to hopefully play myself into contention. That was my goal… to give myself a chance and to put myself in positions to see how I fare.”

That’s an attitude that is somewhat different than Tiger Woods’ historic, “I’m here to win,” orientation.

That said, you certainly can’t the man in the video below doesn’t have a killer instinct.

McIlroy’s formula for winning another major is interesting.

“You take way more risks when you’re a teenager… I just need to get back to playing the game like I was a teenager. Not be careful, not try to be too perfect. Not try to control things that you can’t control. Just go out and play your game..That’s the one thing that I need to do better and it’s more a mental thing rather than anything physical or anything. I just have to approach it better mentally.”

The approach above is probably pretty similar to how Rory plays the Ryder Cup–an event that obviously fires him up, where pins are more accessible and, because of formats, players are encouraged to take dead aim, as the worst-case scenario is merely losing a hole.

Plenty will drag the Ulsterman for his admissions, but ultimately, should we? Do we want our golfing superstars to be miserable unless they’re winning major championships? Is there some nobility and that orientation? Is there any reason to assume McIlroy is putting in less practice work and preparation than he was earlier in his career now that he’s a happily married man with a foundation and business interests?

Let us know what you think, GolfWRX members.