The Will to Prepare: Six Lessons on Failure, Loyalty, and Momentum
Paul Martin draws six business lessons for PT practice owners from Rory McIlroy's journey to back-to-back Masters titles covering how to use failure as fuel, why loyalty to your team compounds over time, and what to do when a breakthrough finally arrives.
Full transcript
Generated from the episode audio and lightly edited for readability.
Hey everybody, welcome back. I'm Paul Martin, founder and president of Martin Healthcare Advisors. And today we're going to talk about one of the greatest comeback stories in all of sports. No, we're not going to talk about Michigan again. Today I'm talking about Rory Mroy and his journey to winning the Masters, which I'm sure just about all of you saw. Now, he didn't just win it once, but twice backto back. Now, those of you who know me know that I am not a huge golf fan, but I have watched Rory's career for years and years.
My father was a big golf fan. This guy won four major championships. Check this out. Before he turned 25. Four. That puts him in the very same room with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to ever do that. And then nothing. For over a decade. He went from 2014 to 2025 without winning a single major. That's 11 years. Can you imagine that? Being that talented, that dominant, and having the one thing you want most just keep slipping away. And here's where it gets really interesting for us because everything Rory went through, you knew you were c, you knew I was coming with us.
Every setback, every lesson, every adjustment that he made maps directly into the challenges that you and I deal with every single day in my business and you in your physical therapy businesses. So stick with me because the parallels are powerful. So, let's get started at the beginning of the pain. It's 2011. Check this out. Rory Mroy is 21 years old and he is leading the Masters by four shots going into the final round. Four shots. Age 21. The kid is on top of the world. And then the back nine happens.
He hits his T-OT on hole number 10. So far left it ends up near the cabins. A triple bogey on 10. Then he three putts on 11 for a bogey. And he four putts on 12 for a double bogey. He ends up shooting 80. 80. Now, my dad, who I used to play some golf with, he shot 80 every once in a while, and he was far from ever making the tour. That's the highest score of the and it was the highest score of the entire round that day by any golfer.
He goes from leading the tournament to finishing tied for 15th. That is a devastating public collapse. The whole world watched it happen. And here's what I want you to think about. Have you ever had a quarter where everything just fell apart? Where your best therapist quit? Your referrals seem to just go away, and your collections tanked all at the same time? I've talked to practice owners who have had exactly that kind of month or quarter, and it can feel like literally the end of the world.
But here's the thing. Two months after that Masters collapse, Rory won the US Open by eight strokes. Talk about a comeback. Eight strokes. It's still one of the most dominant major performances in history. He was so young. He took that failure and let it fuel him. He didn't let it define him. So the lesson for your practice, your worst quarter, your biggest failure, your most embarrassing stumble, that can become the found I'll slow down. That can become the foundation for your greatest run. But only if you study it, if you learn from it, and you refuse to let it break you.
I will never forget this. My first year in this business after I had sold my large physical therapy practice, I sent an email to probably 500 rehab business owners and it had an absolutely clear error in the first sentence. I thought, well, it was worth a try in this merger and acquisition industry and consulting industry. I'm going to have to find something else to do. And then I thought about it and said, if someone sent this to me like this with that error, what would I want to happen?
And sure enough, I redid the email and I sent it out with an initial sentence that said how embarrassing it was that I had sent them this. And I cannot tell you how many positive responses I got from that email. I was young. I was in my early 30s and I got so many positive responses. Now, let's get back to Rory. This is the part that really gets me because it speaks directly to how we think about our businesses. Rory Mroy had the swing, the same swing coach since he was eight years old.
Now you know golf swing, it's a coach that works on your swing. He has had this coach since eight years old. His name was Michael Bannon. This is a club pro from a small town in Northern Ireland called Hollywood. And no, not the one in California. This is in Ireland. Bannon has been with Rory through every single major win, every heartbreak, every swing adjustment. Think about that kind of loyalty, and continuity. Then there's his caddy, Harry Diamond. Harry is Rory's childhood friend from that same golf club in Northern Ireland.
They grew up together. Rory hired him in 2017. And for years, people in the golf world questioned that decision about Rory. They said Rory needed a real tour caddy, not his buddy. But Rory stuck with Harry. And when Rory won the 2025 Masters, completing the career grand slam that had always eluded him for over a decade, he broke down in tears at the press conference. Not about the win, about Harry. He said Harry had taken punches for eight years as his caddy and that was their moment together.
And then there's the mental side of all this. Rory works with Dr. Bob Rotella, one of the most respected sports psychologists in the world. He brought in Brad Faxton to help with his putting and his mental approach on the greens. As you know, you know, T- shots, second shots, it's all one on the greens for these big-time golfers. He built a team around him that covered every angle, technical, physical, and mental. Here's what I want you to take from this. In your PT practices, in your PT business, I should say.
Do you have a team you trust? And I'm not just talking about your therapists. I'm talking about your advisors, your accountant, your attorney, your marketing outsource or insourced person, your consultant. Are they people who you know who understand your vision and who have been with you through the ups and the downs? Or are you just constantly cycling through vendors and hoping to find the next one is going to be the answer? Rory's lesson is clear. Find great people, build deep relationships, and stay loyal. The payoff comes.
It might take eight years, but it comes. So, let's now fast forward to 2024. The US Open at Pinehurst. Rory has a twoshot lead with five holes to play. He's about to end the drought. Remember, he had been in a drought for all those years. He's about to win his fifth major. And then he misses a par putt from less than three feet on hole 16. Three feet. You and I could make 10 of those in a row. Right. And and I will tell you that I did play a lot of miniature golf in my days down on Long Beach Island, and I would make those putts all day long at Bill Burr's miniature golf course.
Then on 18, he lips out another short putt. He bogeies three of his last four holes and loses to Bryson Dashambo by one shot. He left the course without talking to anybody. He posted on social media the next day that he needed to take some time off to process everything and build himself back up. He said, "I need to build myself back up." That is a man who has absolutely he was just absolutely and positively gutted. And on top of that, his personal life was in turmoil.
Just weeks before that US Open, Rory had filed for divorce from his wife Erica. A month later, he reversed course and they reconciled. He later called it a wakeup call that showed him how important his family was. He said on the Netflix show Full Swing that the near divorce made him realize he needed to rep prioritize everything. Now, I'm not here to get into anybody's personal life, but here's the physical therapy business lesson owner, and it's a big one. You really can't separate your personal well-being from your professional performance.
If you are burned out, if your relationships are suffering, if you are, you know, running on fumes every day when you come into the office, it will show up in your business. It will show up in your decision-making, in how you treat your staff, as well as in the energy you bring to clinics every day. And trust me, that energy is so important. Taking care of yourself is not a luxury. It's a business strategy, period. So, here we are. April 2025, the Masters. Rory has been chasing the green jacket for 14 years.
It's the only major he has not won, completing the career grand slam. Only five players in the history of golf have ever done it. He takes a twoshot lead into the final round and guess what? He starts giving it away again. He squanders the lead with the final six holes and falls into a playoff with none other than Justin Rose. He is focused. And right there standing on the playoff tee, his caddy Harry Diamond says eight words that changed everything. We would have taken this on Monday morning.
And Rory said later, he basically told me, look, you would have been you would have been willing to give your right arm to be in a playoff at the start of the week. So that reframed it for him. Rory hits a wedge to four feet on the hole on the playoff hole, drains the putt, becomes the Mast's champion, grand career grand slam, the sixth player in history to do it, and the first European ever. In his press conference, he said it was all a relief. There wasn't much joy in that reaction.
It was a relief. He said it was a decade plus full of emotion coming out of him all on the course that day. So the lesson here is also so important for business owners. Sometimes you are so close to a breakthrough you can't even see it. You've been grinding for years, trying to grow, trying to get your systems right, trying to build that perfect team, and it feels like nothing is working. But persistence is not just about working harder. It's about staying in the game long enough for the breakthrough to find you.
Rory didn't win the Masters by swinging harder. He won it with his team caddy reminding him to take a breath. Enjoy the moment. Look at what a wonderful place and where a wonderful place you are. And sometimes the breakthrough comes when you stop pressing and you start trusting the work that you and your staff have already done. And this is where the story gets even better. One year later, and you all know this, April 2026, Rory is back at Augusta, and he wins again, backto back.
He became only the fourth player in history to win conse consecutive Masters titles. The only other names on that list, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Fo, Tiger Woods. That's a rarified air at its best. He blew a sixshot lead through 30 holes. 36 holes. Fought off Justin Rose again. And the late charge. Oh, and I was I was watching this. That late charge from Scotty Sheffller. You're like, "Oh no, Scotty Sheffller, it's coming." And won by one shot with a final round of 71. He had a bold shot over Ray Creek on hole number 12 for a birdie.
Then crushed a 350 yard drive on 13 to set him up for another birdie. And when it mattered most, he made the plays for your practice. This is the final lesson. The first win is not the goal. The goal is to build on that. When you finally crack the code on referral growth or you finally hire the rockstar clinical director or you finally get your margins where you need to be, that is not time to sit back. That is the time to double down on what you've already been doing well because momentum is real.
Rory did not just win one masters and go home. He came back and proved it was no fluke. Your business should do the same. When something works, systematize it, replicate it, and build on it immediately. So, here's the last thing, and I think it ties everything together. Golf looks like an individual sport. You you would think, right? One guy, one ball, one scorecard. But at this level, it is absolutely a team sport. Rory has Michael Bannon for his swing. Harry Diamond reading every green and keeping him calm under pressure.
Dr. Rob Rotella for the mental game. Brad Faxton for his putting. His wife Erica and their daughter Poppy giving him perspective and purpose. His parents who he credits for everything. Who he had to convince to come back to the 2025 Masters because they thought he won because they weren't there. That is a championship team. And the players in your business are no different. Your lead therapist, your front desk, your billing people, your marketing partner, your adviserss, every single one of them plays a role in whether your practice wins or loses.
And the best investment you can make is in those people. Train them, trust them, appreciate them, treat them like family, because just like Rory's team carried him through the lowest moments, your team will carry you through yours. So, let me wrap it up. Rory Mroyy's journey to the master gives us six incredible lessons for our PT business. Number one, your worst day can become your greatest teacher. Use failure as fuel, not as an excuse to quit. Second, keep your team and trust your team. Doesn't mean if somebody is significantly underperforming, you don't make a change, but those folks that are loyal to you and you have deep relationships, train them, work with them.
Third, the gut punch doesn't have to be the final chapter. You can come back from anything if you stay in the game. Fourth, take care of yourself. Your personal well-being is not separate from your business performance. They are linked. They are aligned. They are the same thing. Number five, when you break through, build on that momentum. Don't coast. Double down on the things that you do well. And sixth, remember that it's always a team sport. Invest in your people because they are the ones who will carry you to the championship.
If Royal Mroy can go 11 years without a major, survive public heartbreak on the biggest stages in golf, rebuild his personal life, and come back to win the masters two times in a row, then you can absolutely take your PT business to the next level this year. The blueprint is there. And you know what Rory's coach told him from the very beginning? And this is a quote from Bob Knight and Vince Lombardi. The will to prepare is much more important than the will to win. I'm Paul Martin. Thanks for watching. I will see you on the next episode. And if you want to talk, just click below and let's talk. Thanks and have a great weekend.
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