But the Northern Irish ace insists he will now only shed tears of joy on the golf course after ending a memorable year as a Major winner.
That breakthrough victory came at the US Open but it should have arrived two months earlier at Augusta.
The 22-year-old became the youngster player to lead The Masters after the opening day thanks to a sizzling 65.
And McIlroy had amassed a four-shot lead by the time he began his final round.
However, it all began to turn horribly sour when he bogeyed the first.
And McIlroy disintegrated when his bell fell into Raes Creek down the left of the 13th.
He eventually signed for an 80 and finished in a tie for 15th as Charl Schwartzel ended up with the green jacket. It was one of the most painful collapses in golfing history and McIlroy burst into tears a day later.
He said: After what happened at 13, I just felt like crying.
That was the one that took it all away. But I didn,t actually cry until the next morning.
On that Sunday, I had a lot of time between getting up and going out to play, he remembers. Ulster were playing in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup, so I watched that, but even then I had time to kill. If I turned on ESPN or Golf Channel, all I could hear were people talking about me.
I learnt after that not to watch television or to go on Twitter. Greg Norman told me after the Masters that any outside influence you let into your bubble could be detrimental. If you see an article about yourself, you have to have a lot of self-discipline not to read it. That is what I need to do from now on.
What enabled him to zone out at the US Open was the presence of his father in his entourage. There had been technical tinkering not least the advice from putting coach Dave Stockton on how to stay cool over a three-footer down the stretch but paternal guidance proved crucial.
A more sanguine fellow than Gerry McIlroy, a former barman who at one stage flit between three jobs to fund the dreams of the infant Rors, would be difficult to find. Over breakfast at the Marriott in downtown Bethesda that Sunday morning, he brought a calming effect as his son attempted, at the second time of asking, to close out a major.
One of the big differences was having dad there, McIlroy acknowledges. We talked it through and he said the right things. I had played so well for three rounds that he told me to keep doing what I was doing. It was important that it was said by him. It was more reassuring coming from him, rather than any sports psychologist from someone who knows you better than anyone in the world.
The words of Jack Nicklaus were also echoing in his ears as he approached his moment of reckoning. McIlroy had received some psychological pointers from Bob Rotella, mind coach to the stars, but the instruction from an 18-time resonated more profoundly. Jack had sought me out at Muirfield Village. He read that I was going to see Bob and he was honest: How many tournaments has Bob won, He wanted to know about my mindset, why I hadn it won as many tournaments.
He was very good with me. Pressure, he said, was what he thrived on and relished. It was why he played the game. He concentrated on not making mistakes. He regarded a three-putt as the most cardinal sin you could make. The rest would be indelibly inscribed on the memory of all who saw it.
McIlroy, with fearlessness and Nicklaus-like minimising of mistakes, reached the clubhouse at 16 under par, wrestling with the reality that he was the youngest winner of America is national championship since Bobby Jones 81 years ago. None too shabby, then, for an impish young buck from Northern Ireland who often plays and looks like he is enjoying a round at the local municipal.
Is it fair to characterise 2011 as the year he grew up? Yes, definitely. From the disappointment at the Masters to coming back to win, and the elation of that, I appreciate things more. I went to Haiti with Unicef. Plus, there are things I haven it had to deal with before, like my personal life becoming of interest to the public.
Ah, yes. Any analysis of McIlroys year would hardly be complete without reference to Caroline Wozniacki, the world No 1 in womens tennis and the Danish belle from whom he is increasingly inseparable. They are fully established as sports latest power couple.
The loved-up Rory even came up with a hybrid name, giving his beloved a club branded Wozzilroy. There is no escaping his blushing when he is asked to identify his best experience off the course. I don it want to sound too soppy here, but meeting Caroline? A bit cheesy?
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