AUGUSTA, Ga. — As he made another winning walk through the ropeline from Augusta National’s 18th green to the clubhouse, this time with fewer tears but just as much joy, the Georgia twilight brought the arc of Rory McIlroy’s career into a sharper focus.
It is now definitively a story in three parts — and all of them connect at the Masters.
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When a 21-year old McIlroy won the very next major in 2011 after he blew a four-shot lead here to start the final round, his place among the all-time greats seemed like an inevitability.
Then came the ascent into adulthood, where an 11-year drought in major championships threatened to turn “what if” into the narrative of his career — until he finally got to the finish line last year at Augusta for the career Grand Slam.
And now, after McIlroy won his sixth major title on Sunday, we are in the third and perhaps most interesting chapter as he approaches his 37th birthday in a few weeks. With two Masters victories in the last 12 months, McIlroy has firmly planted himself among the 10 best golfers of all time. For the next decade or so, only one question matters: How high can he climb?
At the very moment it appeared he might not even be remembered as the best player among his contemporaries — before last year’s Masters, Brooks Koepka had five majors while Scottie Scheffler with two was just entering his prime — McIlroy found a new gear.
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Now the picture looks rather different.
Six majors ties McIlroy with Lee Trevino, Nick Faldo and Phil Mickelson. The next one — and it would be hard to believe there won’t be a next one at this point — puts him on par with Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen and Bobby Jones.
Sunday’s win ensured he’s already the greatest European player ever. Assuming health and motivation, he’ll likely end up as the winningest Ryder Cup player in the history of the event. He’s now got 30 PGA Tour wins, a mark only 17 golfers have ever reached. And he’s only a U.S. Open and Open Championship from winning the double Grand Slam — something only Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have ever done.
How’s that for a new goal to shoot for?
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McIlroy also did something this week he’s never really done before at a major: He won without his best stuff.
In the first phase of McIlroy’s career, that would have seemed like an impossibility. His first four majors came pretty easily, all in a 38-month period and in tournaments he controlled practically from start to finish. But as the years went by, when McIlroy needed to rein in his game or manufacture a score on a day where things weren’t firing, it just didn’t seem like he could do it under pressure.
But if last year’s Masters victory was a testament to McIlroy’s heart and ability to keep bouncing back from devastation, this one was all about his grit.
McIlroy did not play pretty golf for most of this week. For three rounds, he was a mess off the tee. The towering approach shots that gave him easy birdie looks were few and far between. He built a six-shot lead at the halfway point by scrambling his backside off and putting like a machine. He lost it all Saturday by doing nothing much different than he did for the first 36 holes — the ball just wasn’t going in.
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And then on Sunday, when McIlroy walked off No. 6 two shots behind playing partner Cameron Young and 2-over par for the day, it didn’t feel anything like his more memorable meltdowns. This time, it seemed like he just didn’t have it. He was getting the result his less-than-stellar play deserved.
But over the final 11 holes, McIlroy played the best golf of anyone in the field — and, given the circumstances, some of the best in his career. A wedge to seven feet at No. 7. A routine birdie on No. 8, the par-5. A dart on the 12th hole to record one of only four birdies there on the day. A ripped 350-yard drive on No. 13 that set him up for another birdie on the par-5 where he made double-bogey in last year’s final round.
By that point, the tournament was practically over. On a day where Scheffler missed one opportunity after another and other contenders like Young and Justin Rose couldn’t make anything happen on the back nine, it seemed like McIlroy was more steady in his game and in control of his emotions than at any major he’s played since he was in his early 20s.
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It felt a little bit like the way Woods and Nicklaus won some of their majors. When everyone else is feeling the moment, McIlroy raised the floor of his game so high that it only took a few brilliant shots to put away the field.
McIlroy will never have the numbers or the time to get into the Woods-Nicklaus conversation. But with six majors, a newfound security under pressure and potentially another decade of great golf ahead, McIlroy has a pathway to be No. 3.
A year and a week ago, before he won his first green jacket, that didn’t seem within the realm of possibility anymore. But somehow, McIlroy has changed the narrative. In the third chapter of his career, it suddenly seems like almost anything is possible.
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