After years of near misses and heartache, Rory McIlroy will finally get the chance for sporting redemption on Thursday night. This time it is not the Masters, where the Ulsterman became the first European to complete a career Grand Slam in April. Nor the Ryder Cup where he led Team Europe to a rare away win amid the New York din in September.

McIlroy has to win the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year (SPOTY) in Salford. And if he doesn’t triumph after his unforgettable year then he never will.

Yet even being the red-hot favourite is no guarantee of golfing success in this public vote. Only two golfers have ever won SPOTY - the same total as swimming or eventing. First there was Dai Rees back in 1957 and then Sir Nick Faldo in 1989

Darren Clarke finished runner-up to Zara Phillips in 2006. And when McIlroy won two Majors in 2014 - including the Open - he finished second behind Lewis Hamilton. Princess Anne beat his fellow Ulsterman George Best to the award in 1971 although Mary Peters won the following year. And Andy Murray has lifted SPOTY three times while winning fewer Majors than McIlroy.

• Rory McIlroy loses PGA Tour Player of the Year to major rival

• LIV Golf's winter transfer window hots up as former world No.11 swaps teams

But like his 17th Masters appearance, surely the outcome will be different this time. As a mop-haired 21-year-old, he took a four-shot lead into the final round in 2011 and shot 80. After 2014, the Masters was the only Major missing from his full set but the scar tissue and pressure grew with every subsequent failure.

I never thought he would ever win a Green Jacket after suffering so much heartache. I was wrong. Of the 22 Masters I have covered, it is up there alongside Tiger Woods’ 2019 comeback win as the best because it was about finally succeeding after years of painful failure. His redemption story was a great lesson for sport - and life.

The emotional scenes after his triumph saw McIlroy fight back tears and then speak directly to his young daughter during the presentation ceremony.

“The one thing I would say to my daughter Poppy here: ‘Never give up on your dreams,” he said. “Never ever give up on your dreams. Keep coming back. Keep working hard. And if you put your mind to it, you can do anything’. Love you.”

It was a very different atmosphere across the USA on Long Island in September when McIlroy suffered horrendous personal abuse as Europe won an away Ryder Cup for the first time since 2012.

“I don’t think there will be a better year in my golfing career,” said the Race to Dubai winner.

For the first time in SPOTY history, the Team of the Year Award will also be decided by a public vote which opened on Monday. European captain Luke Donald posted a picture of his 12 good men on social media with the caption: “What a team. Please vote for these legends.”

Top points scorer Tommy Fleetwood, who claimed the $10m FedEx Cup on his 164th appearance on the PGA Tour, would have been a contender in another year. But 2025 has to be Rory McIlroy.

BBC Sports Personality of the Year is live on BBC One at 7pm on Thursday December 18