Rory McIlroy says he WILL attend the Sports Personality of the Year awards show next month – for the first time in over a decade – despite his previous public criticism. The Masters champion is looking to become the first golfer to win the BBC award since Sir Nick Faldo in 1989.
The Northern Irishman has not exactly held the Sports Personality of the Year award in high regard in the past. His best finish was when he was the runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in 2014 despite winning back-to-back majors and becoming the first golfer from the UK to do so in modern times. But the 36-year-old will be at the glitzy ceremony in December – for the good of the sport of golf.
McIlroy, who completed a career Grand Slam by winning the Masters in April, told the Telegraph: “Yeah, the plan is to go. I have more chance of winning if I’m actually there and I recognise that with the audience the show attracts it could only be a good thing for the game. I suppose if I don’t win it this time, I never will.”
He was fiercely critical of SPOTY just last year. He declined to attend the December 2023 ceremony despite being one of six contenders after inspiring Ryder Cup glory for Team Europe and winning the Scottish Open. The world No.2 declined an invite to attend that night and also refused to appear via video link or record a video message.
Asked about his snub in January 2024, McIlroy said unapologetically: “Whenever I saw the results, I forgot I was nominated. So that’s how much I think about it. It’s a popularity contest. It’s not what it once was.”
Golf has felt underappreciated by the BBC award since Faldo’s success, which came the same year he won the Masters for the first time. Other than Faldo, the last golfing victor was Dai Rees in 1957. In the last 36 years, Matt Fitzpatrick was not even nominated when he won the US Open in 2022.
In the award’s entire 71-year history, only nine times has a golfer came first, second or third. That is lower than boxing (10), swimming and tennis (both 11), cricket (14), F1 (18), football (24) and athletics (54).
Despite donning the green jacket at Augusta and helping Team Europe to an away Ryder Cup success in hostile New York, McIlroy is not currently the favourite to win the award. England’s Chloe Kelly, who helped inspire the Lionesses to back-to-back Euros glory, is ahead of him.
Lando Norris is another contender given the McLaren driver could be crowned F1 world champion for the first time. Lionesses goalkeeper and Yashin Trophy winner at the Ballon d’Or awards, Hannah Hampton, is also expected to be a nominee as the best goalkeeper in the world in women’s football.
McIlroy is in action at the Abu Dhabi Championship this week. But the Northern Irishman has conceded that he’ll tweak his schedule for 2026 in order to extend his career as long as he can: “I would say, if anything, playing even less than I have this year.
“I think I’ll play the same amount of tournaments on the DP World Tour, if not more, but I’ve alluded to the fact that I’m going to play a little bit less just throughout the year. Really prioritise the major championships and a few of the other bigger events.
“But the world of golf does a really good job of keeping you – I describe it as keeping you on the hamster wheel. And sometimes it’s nice to get off that hamster wheel and do things your own way.
“Look, I’m not getting any younger. If I want to play competitively for another ten years like Justin Rose has, for example, I have to remember that I’m not 23 anymore and I can’t play that schedule forever.
“So I think to try to have the longevity that I want to have, I’m going to have to cut back my schedule a little bit over these next few years to make sure I stay injury-free and I play up until the point that I want to.”
