Rory McIlroy is Giving Us Reason to Believe

No player on Earth has suffered from more close calls over the last few seasons than Rory McIlroy.

The final stretch at Pinehurst, one shot short at Los Angeles Country Club, heartbreak at St. Andrews.

Since 2022, the Northern Irishman finished eighth or better in eight of the 12 major championships. The one common denominator that caused McIlroy to come up short was the putter. Several close misses down the stretch at each event were too much to overcome. He failed to take advantage of great opportunities and in turn, fell short.

And it looked like history was destined to repeat itself on Sunday afternoon after THE PLAYERS Championship resumed from a lengthy weather delay. McIlroy came right out and hit a wedge to 13 feet and buried the putt to get to the top of the leaderboard. But after that, the flat-stick went ice cold.

He missed a five-footer on the 15th for birdie, an 11-foot birdie bid on the 16th, and a 13-foot putt for a two on the Island Green. Then, on the 18th, McIlroy needed a two-putt from 73 feet to stay at 12 under and force J.J. Spaun to make par on the closing hole. His first came up four feet short, and all those memories of Pinehurst, the Old Course came storming back.

But the golf gods owed him one.

The putt tried to sneak away to the right, but the cup made a great catch and McIlroy posted 12 under. Spaun’s birdie putt looked destined for the middle of the hole, but it came up a few inches short and a playoff for Monday morning was on the horizon.

When the two players got to the 16th tee box at 9 a.m., the wind was pumping 30 miles per hour from the west-northwest. So, the par 5 was straight downwind, but the 17th and 18th were right into the fan. Not exactly the shots you want to face in those conditions.

But, McIlroy followed through with what he said Sunday night: “You've got to make five good swings. That's all it is.”

He hit a bomb down 16, a wedge to 30 feet, and one two-putt later headed to the 17th tee with a one-shot advantage. He pulled 9-iron, brought the flight down, took some speed out of the swing, and hit a fantastic golf shot into the middle of the green. A three-putt from there wasn’t great, but after Spaun found the water with his tee shot, that’s all he needed.

And after a drama-less trip down the 18th, McIlroy two-putted for bogey and became just the fourth player to win multiple major championships and PLAYERS titles.

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His resume continues to blossom into one of the best we’ve ever seen, but that one missing piece still remains: a Green Jacket. But this year he’ll enter the Masters with two wins already on the season, the first time he’s ever done that. Plus, you can’t put a price on confidence, and McIlroy seems to have an abundance of it. “I feel like I'm a better player now than I ever have been, and it's nice to see the fruits of my labor paying off,” he said on Monday.

It’s clear McIlroy was motivated by the year Scottie Scheffler had in 2024. He’s made changes to his golf swing, mindset, and is now in the same position the world No. 1 was last year heading into the first major.

But for 2025 to truly be the Year of Rory McIlroy, the 35-year-old needs a win among the Georgia Pines.

The countdown to Augusta starts now.