No one can secure longevity at the summit of a sport without first learning to handle the impact on their life. Rory McIlroy acknowledges as much. One of the reasons the 25-year-old is more complete now, as a player and a person, than when he first shot to rankings prominence in 2012 comes as a result of the acceptance of what life now involves.

“I used to be uncomfortable,” McIlroy says. “You get to the point where there’s added scrutiny and there’s added criticism or whatever it is but I learned to deal with it. It’s just part of the title now, world No1. That’s what it comes with. I’ve become comfortable with it.

“I’ve spent more than a year of my career at world No1, so if I’m not used to it by now then there’s something wrong. So I obviously enjoy it. It’s where I want to be. I want to be the best player in the world and I want to keep it for as long as I possibly can.”

Lewis Hamilton’s success in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, only hours after McIlroy had completed his European Tour season along the road in Dubai, triggered a debate as to who is more likely to be named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in Glasgow next month. The matter need not really be open to discussion; every element of logic tells us McIlroy must win the trophy. The key, after all, is in the title. At least it should be. It is McIlroy’s personality, open and unaffected by fame, which endears him to so many. The approach of Hamilton in the immediate leadup to the final race of the F1 season, sullen and put-upon, would be totally alien to McIlroy, not least when on the verge of something so fantastic.

It is actually the golfer’s straight talking and honest default position that has triggered headline-making controversy. None of this is to say McIlroy is not capable of being single-minded or ruthless, as recent history tells us he can be precisely that. Yet there is a maturity and willingness to engage fully in the wider world that other sportsmen without a portion of McIlroy’s talent would shy away from. McIlroy’s cross-community appeal and determination to hang on to his roots marks him out as the marquee figure of modern, redeveloped Northern Ireland.

There are further, significant strands. Golf has not been afforded a sports personality winner since 1989, a ludicrous scenario for a sport so widely played and supported in the UK. Golf has been the winning sports personality sport twice, F1 three times that. Cycling has triumphed three times since 2008, hinting at a middle-class fad rather than anything more meaningful, with eventing also prevailing since golf, via Nick Faldo, was properly recognised. It should be further highlighted in any review of the year in the context of Paul McGinley and his European Ryder Cup team.

Golf’s image may be of offensive, all-male stuffiness but the reality, in most cases and certainly where McIlroy comes from, is altogether different. If golf is seen as a sport for the haves in society, goodness knows what that makes the flash, commercial beast that is F1.

In short, golf has a more positive impact on the youth of today than does motor racing; McIlroy has shown a generation of British and Irish youngsters what can be done, with so many taking on that challenge. People of any age cannot just “take up” F1, as is possible with golf.

Sniffy comments relating to physical exertion not being a key aspect of golfing success need only glance towards McIlroy’s arduous training regime. He is an athlete, in every sense of the word.

On the course, McIlroy has used this year to set himself apart. His two major victories in 2014, won in altogether different circumstances, highlighted his development. So, too, did a wider consistency. The big stage was good to McIlroy; he triumphed, too, in one World Golf Championship and in the European Tour’s flagship event, at Wentworth in May.

Not since Tiger Woods was in his prime has a player taken on such a dominating position in the world rankings. At four, McIlroy has moved within one major title of Seve Ballesteros and two of Faldo, the most dominant European golfer of his era. It is inconceivable McIlroy will not surpass those greats. Should McIlroy prevail at the Masters in just under five months time, he will become only the sixth player in history to complete a majors grand slam. The buildup to that event around McIlroy will verge on hysterical, in itself a telling scenario with regards to how far he has progressed in the wider consciousness.

It might seem churlish to decry Hamilton’s latest success or dismiss his own impressive rise from humble beginnings. He will inspire others, of that there is no question.

Nonetheless, most educated onlookers will admit the superiority of the car the British driver had at his disposal meant the only legitimate world championship race was between Hamilton and his team-mate, Nico Rosberg. McIlroy enjoys no such advantage over his peers; the upper echelons of professional golf have arguably never had as many players capable of winning on the big stage. Setting oneself apart is extremely difficult.

Perhaps McIlroy places little value in the sports personality award, just as plenty of others regard it solely as an overhyped television show. Luke Donald took to social media on Sunday evening to point out how the prize would never be at the top of a high-level competitor’s wishlist. Trophies, Donald stressed, and not something voted on, matter most.

There is merit in that argument. Similarly, though, if McIlroy is overlooked this time around then golf and its blue-chip player has cause to wonder when the barren run may ever end.

The 10 nominations for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year will be published on the Guardian’s website at 7.30pm.