RORY MCILROY detests the word “choker”, but accepts that is precisely what he was at the US Masters in April and eight months on he has spoken about how it reduced him to tears.

The morning after he shot 80 and saw a four-shot lead turn into a 10-stroke defeat McIlroy talked to his parents back home in Northern Ireland and “let it all out” before facing the world again.

“It might have been something one of them said like ‘you’ll be okay’,” the 22-year-old has recalled in a review of a season of incredible highs and that one awful low.

“I said ‘it won’t be okay’ – at the time you feel this could be your only ever chance of winning the Masters and you’ve blown it.

“After that I was fine. You’ve got so many emotions and thoughts going through your head, but after a couple of weeks I realised that it’s not going to be my only chance.”

A mere 67 days later he teed off in golf’s next major, the US Open at Congressional, determined to show that what happened at Augusta “wasn’t the real Rory McIlroy”.

In what was unquestionably the performance of the year in the sport, he led by three after the opening day, by six at halfway, by eight with a round to go and by eight at the end.

Only Tiger Woods had won the event by more since 1921, McIlroy was the youngest winner since Bobby Jones in 1923 and his 16-under-par score was a record by four.

“Part of the motivation was trying to prove a lot of people wrong – just critics, whether they be in the media or just people from outside. You go on Twitter and you see a lot of comments.

“And I suppose I had to try to prove to myself that I wasn’t this player that crumbles under the pressure or folds or chokes – I hate using the word ‘choke’, but that’s exactly what happened at the Masters.

“I had to be very honest with myself. Look at my game, look at myself hard and say ‘this is what I need to improve’.”

Now, of course, he is a multi-millionaire, a player in demand all over the globe in a game where the seven-figure rewards on and off the course are mind-blowing.

And, of course, he is a celebrity with a celebrity girlfriend – Dane Caroline Wozniacki, the tennis world number one.

They have been going out since their summer meeting at David Haye’s world title fight in Germany and are the latest in a list of such alliances – Sergio Garcia and Martina Hingis (long over), Greg Norman and Chris Evert (no longer married) and Adam Scott and Ana Ivanovic (back together again).

“We understand we’re not going to see each other every week of the year,” McIlroy said. “A tennis career is a lot shorter than a golf one and they have to put everything into it for the eight or 10 years they’re playing.

“She definitely works harder than I do – and most of the girls on the tennis tour. If anything it’s been a great influence on me to see how hard she works and how she dedicates herself to her game.

“It’s also nice to be with someone who has the same ambition and drive.

“I don’t want to sound soppy here, but the best thing that’s happened to me off the course this year is meeting Caroline.”

Her next big target is the Australian Open next month, where she hopes to land her first Grand Slam title. For McIlroy the next major is his eagerly-awaited return to Augusta in April.

He said: “I’ll feel like I felt going into the US Open this year, that I’ll have something to prove and have a little bit extra motivation. And maybe a little bit of revenge as well, trying to make amends for what happened.”