When Rory McIlroy finally sank the winning putt on Sunday at the Masters, completing the career grand slam and securing the green jacket that had eluded him for 17 years, he collapsed to his knees on the 18th green and began to sob.
It was one of the most visceral reactions we’ve ever seen on the golf course. It wasn’t the celebration of triumph we’ve come to expect on the 18th green. McIlroy didn’t deliver a fist pump like Tiger Woods or leap into the air like Phil Mickelson, rather he simply felt the weight of the golf world finally release from his shoulders and fell to his knees while letting go of 11 years of pain.
“It was all relief. There wasn’t much joy in that reaction. It was all relief,” McIlroy chuckled afterwards. “And then, you know, the joy came pretty soon after that. … I’ve been coming here 17 years, and it was a decade-plus of emotion that came out of me there.”
McIlroy’s rise to the top of the golf world was so swift and decisive it felt like he would be a perennial major winner and threaten the records of Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. He won four majors in his first 24 appearances as a professional, including back-to-back at the 2014 Open and 2014 PGA. And then … nothing.
For 11 years he has been searching for that fifth major title, and with each close call and missed opportunity, the weight on his shoulders grew. McIlroy has been open and honest about how mentally exhausting his major drought has been, particularly as he’s continued to play as one of the world’s best and win at other events around the world. But your place in golf history is defined by the majors, and for 11 years, McIlroy has been stranded on the same island.
That changed on Sunday at Augusta National, a place that had haunted him for even longer. His 2011 collapse has lived in infamy, a final-round 80 that remains the worst score for a 54-hole leader in tournament history. That was his first great chance to win a major, and he spent 14 years trying to get that opportunity again at the Masters.
Rory McIlroy winning the Masters had to be this tortuous; it was never going to happen any other way
Patrick McDonald
As the years wore on, that scar tissue seemed to be too much for him to overcome. At times, he seemed almost resigned to his fate as the next great who couldn’t get it done at Augusta National, and with the Masters placed at the start of the major rotation, every April failure laid seeds of doubt that sprouted at the worst times in the other three.
On Sunday, he stared down all the ghosts that haunted him over the last decade and, somehow, managed to get his green jacket. It wasn’t easy — it couldn’t be easy — but the job was done, and on that 18th green, a decade’s worth of pain was lifted.
McIlroy looked visibly lighter as he walked off that green. For years he insisted he could win and would win, but 11 years is a long time; by the end, it felt like he was trying to convince himself to believe that was the case. Now, he’s proven it to himself and has the green jacket as physical evidence of the mental hurdle he’s cleared.
What’s ahead at remaining majors for Rory in 2025
As he moves forward, he now gets to match up a confidence and internal belief that has been missing with the best physical form in which his game has ever been. That is an exciting proposition for fans and a rather ominous sight for the rest of the field
So, the question must be asked: How many majors could Rory win this year?
The next major is the PGA Championship in May, and it will be held at a golf course McIlroy has dominated over the years: Quail Hollow. Usually the site of the Wells Fargo Championship, Quail Hollow is a course McIlroy has won on four times in his career, and he will almost assuredly enter as the favorite over Scottie Scheffler.
This year’s U.S. Open will be at Oakmont, which last hosted in 2016, a year McIlroy missed the cut. While he won’t have positive memories of his last visit to Oakmont, the U.S. Open has been his best major in recent years with six consecutive top 10s and back-to-back runner-up finishes.
The Open Championship has been a mixed bag for McIlroy, and this year it returns to Royal Portrush, which is the lone stop on the Open rota in Northern Ireland. In 2019, the pressure of his homecoming was too much of a burden for McIlroy to shoulder, as he missed the cut and watched his friend Shane Lowry get the win. This year, the vibes will be distinctly different, as he’ll arrive back in Northern Ireland as a conquering hero having completed the grand slam, not facing questions about ending a drought on home soil.
You’d be hard-pressed to draw up a better pathway to the actual calendar grand slam for McIlroy. That seems far-fetched with the level of talent around him, but now that the weight has been lifted with his Masters win and he can play more freely in majors, adding a sixth this season feels more likely than not.
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