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Rory McIlroy had plenty to smile about after capturing his second career major Sunday.

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. -- As Dave Stockton sat in his Redland, Calif., home and watched Rory McIlroy’s record-setting performance unfold at the PGA Championship, one of the things the putting guru was most proud of was how McIlroy managed his emotions through a bogey-free 67 in the final round en route to a record-setting victory.

Not until the final putt fell on the 18th hole for birdie on Sunday did the 23-year-old McIlroy let loose, sobbing in the arms of his father as the two embraced on the putting green.

Three months earlier, however, McIlroy had a different set of emotions. Mired in a mini-slump of four missed cuts in five starts, McIlroy was being questioned on everything from his swing, to the impact his girlfriend, tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, was having on his golf.

All of it seeped into how McIlroy carried himself on the golf course, and how he played. He admitted as much Sunday, saying he underwent a big learning curve because he’d never endured such scrutiny before.

Stockton didn’t care. All he wanted to do -- aside from help McIlroy with his putting stroke -- was get his pupil to smile and enjoy himself on the golf course.

“What I didn’t like looking at on the TV when he was struggling was that I could tell when he had made birdie or bogey by his body language,” Stockton said. “The best part of last week was that when he missed a shot you never saw a change in his demeanor.”

Perhaps nothing best exemplified that than McIlroy’s 3-over 75 in 30-mph crosswinds on Friday. Conditions were so difficult, the field averaged 78. McIlroy never wavered, though.

On the 15th hole, he hit what Stockton called one of the worst putts he’s ever seen with McIlroy leaving a lengthy par attempt less than halfway to the hole. He made the next putt for bogey, however, and one hole later bounced back with a towering 4-iron into the breeze to set up a birdie on the par-5 16th.

It was a sign of not only what McIlroy had been working on with his swing, but a show of maturity, too.

“You saw no change in his emotion,” Stockton said.

What we have seen is a change in how McIlroy has learned to manage the good with the bad, thanks in part to Stockton.

“You never saw Jack Nicklaus get frustrated,” Stockton said. “I’m sure there were times he did, but you almost never saw it. I told Rory to smile more. I want him to look like he’s having a good time out there.”

He certainly was on Sunday as he sped to an eight-shot victory.

Perhaps it’s not coincidence, either, that McIlroy’s major success came at two venues -- Congressional and The Ocean Course -- where Stockton had some, too (he won at Congressional and captained the 1991 U.S. Ryder Cup team to victory at Kiawah).

“We had a chat last week in Akron and he just said to me, ‘Enjoy it. This is what you've always wanted to do since you were a little boy. There's no point in getting frustrated out there or getting upset,’” McIlroy said. “That's the attitude that I had for the last couple weeks, and it definitely helped.”

By John Schwarb, PGATOUR.COM

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Sam Snead often practiced full shots while barefoot, to better feel his connection with the ground and maintain balance.

Golf shoe manufacturers aren’t going to endorse that anytime soon, but they’re fighting each other to create the closest things to barefoot. Like the hot drivers and clothing fabrics on the floor at the PGA Merchandise Show, lighter is better.

Adidas' new Crossflex

Adidas Golf showed off its new Crossflex, weighing in at a scant 10.6 ounces. Most golf shoes come in closer to a pound or more.

“It’s a supernova-rising category,” said adidas Golf product manager Grant Knudson of the light-shoe segment.

Several startup companies are trying to, um, get a foothold in that segment with shoes that look closer to Crocs with spikes or surf shoes. Barefoot B.E.R.B.S. (standing for better energy recovery balance stability, of course) showed off their product at Wednesday’s Demo Day and invited customers to try on a pair and smash drivers.

But all is not lost for golfers still looking for anchors. FootJoy’s XPS1 has a sole that flares out at points around the bottom of the shoe, adding stability. Gary Woodland, the kind of player who would need maximum stability with his fierce swing speed, wears the XPS1 on the PGA TOUR.

SIGHTINGS: Jack Nicklaus spoke at a Golf 2.0 program for the PGA of America. … Davis Love III signed autographs at Bridgestone’s booth … Brad Faxon drew a crowd while giving putting tips for a synthetic green company … CBS Sports’ Jim Nantz, the longtime voice of Titleist on commercials, emceed a Thursday morning gathering for the company’s PGA professionals. … Dave Stockton and his sons were on hand to offer putting tips and sign Stockton’s new book, “Unconscious Putting.”

PUTTING PROWESS: Ping reps stayed busy on a putting green running a contest using the company’s iPhone putting app. Attendees were fit for a Ping putter with the company’s new “Fit for Stroke” system, which measures golfers onto one of three swing paths – strong arc, slight arc or straight. Golfers then hit five putts with a correctly fit putter, and those putts’ data were measure with the iPhone clipped to the putter.

The 32 players with the most consistency from their set are invited back Friday for a competition, and the four left standing after that will compete Saturday morning in a $5,000 skins game.

The Ping putting app has had more than 100,000 downloads since its release last summer, and when the company pushed its iPhone cradle (the device attaching the iPhone to the putter) as a stocking stuffer, that proved to be a hit too. More than 3,000 downloads were recorded on Christmas morning.

AROUND THE FLOOR: TaylorMade’s area (along with sister companies adidas and Ashworth) filled the east end of the convention hall, and Thursday night featured a concert with George Thorogood. His song, “Who Do You Love?” is used in the company’s commercials for the new R11s driver. … Cobra Puma Golf’s two-story booth featured a slide into a pit of plastic orange balls. The weight limit to ride it? Under 195 pounds. … An indoor testing range is expected to have some 250,000 balls hit over the three days of the Show. … For more pictures from the show, click here .

SMART STUFF: Golf Buddy has a new GPS device called “The Voice” which is beeper-sized and tells you the distance to the hole with a push of a button. … A new company called iWanamaker is offering free scoring software for smartphones that allows golfers in outings to keep tabs on each others’ scores, creating a live leaderboard. … There’s no shortage of companies offering golf simulators, either for recreation or instruction, but Guru Training Systems offers a twist – a 3D trainer that is a “markerless motion capture system” according to the company. It works with a depth-sensing camera mounted atop a TV, meaning it could be used in one’s living room without moving the furniture.

For more news from the PGA Merchandise Show, see PGA.COM here.