It has been more than a decade now that Rory McILroy, who won four majors before 26 years old, won one last time – and none of them came to Augusta.
McILroy won the 2012 and 2014 PGA championships, the US Open 2011, and the 2014 open championship, with its best arrival in Augusta in 2022 with its bunker hole to finish second.
The drought of McILroy was a few meters from the end of last summer, but it missed two putts worth 6.5 feet on two of the last three holes to the US Open, and the descent of Bryson Dechambeau on 18 in Pinehurst gave him his second major.
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Rory McILROY it on no. 12 during a training round at the Masters tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club. (Images Kyle Terada-Imagn)
The Northern Irishman suddenly left the course and disappointed with the championship opened a month later, missing the Cup.
But for McILroy, the reigning players’ champion and the king of Pebble Beach, “these are just stories. This is noise.”
“He just tries to block this noise as much as possible,” said McILroy on Tuesday. “I need to treat this tournament like all the other tournaments I play throughout the year.
“Listen, I understand the story and the noise, and there is a lot of anticipation and accumulation in this tournament every year, but I just have to keep my head down and focus on my work.”
Rory McILroy plays his ball on no. 11 During a training round of the Masters tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club. (Images Kyle Terada-Imagn)
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McILroy did not succeed in his last two Masters tournaments, missing the Cup in 2023 and ending equally in the 22nd year last year.
But he has the second best rating to win, behind only the champion reigning Scottie Scheffler, understandable. In five events this year, the 35-year-old did not finish outside the Top 20 and has another top-five apart from his two victories.
However, McILroy knows that the inheritance concerns the majors – and he is zero for his last 38.
Rory McILroy plays his shooting from the 16th Tee in the Masters tournament final. (Michael Madrid-USA TODAY SPORTS)
“I had the chance to win some of the biggest world golf tournaments, and that did not quite happen,” said McILroy. “But life continues. You dust yourself out and you leave. I think that is why I have become a little more comfortable to ask everything and be somewhat vulnerable sometimes.”
