Masters Curse? For Rory McIlroy, is it more than an Augusta hangover?

• For many Masters champs, the highlight reel ended that day.
• Even Tiger Woods might not have been immune to a possible Augusta hex.

A lot of time has been spent analyzing Rory McIlroy’s post-Masters funk.

No one, however, wants to contemplate the unthinkable.

The Masters Curse.

Ridiculous? Yeah, sure it’s ridiculous. How on Earth could it be bad for a golfer’s career to win a major golf championship so steeped in history and tradition that even non-golfers know about the Green Jacket and Amen Corner?

A Masters hangover is a natural occurrence and quite forgivable, and that’s a big part of what Rory is dealing with. Well … that and having his driver deep-sixed at the season’s next major — the PGA Championship a month later — when it was deemed non-conforming after some routine testing. 

That’s not unusual, since the wear and tear on the driver’s clubface eventually thins the front plate beyond the tolerance level. Even Scottie Scheffler had his driver taken away before the PGA (and won anyway, by the way).

Rory finished 47th at the PGA and shunned media requests along the way. He later raised eyebrows by skipping Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament so he could play the week before the U.S. Open, which he did, for two days — he missed the 36-hole Canadian Open cut by 12 shots. TWELVE!

Rory then finished 19th in the U.S. Open, which actually wasn’t that bad considering how miserable he looked during the entire four-day trudge. After finally completing the career grand slam with his Masters win, he’s a man searching for new motivation.

Will he find it? Yeah, most likely.

Unless there really is some sort of Masters hex.

These Masters champions left it all at Augusta National

Crazy talk? Well, let’s examine over a third of the Masters winners from the 21st Century.

For some (Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth, Scottie), their Masters win was the first of multiple majors. But for over a third of this century’s winners, the Masters victory was the final highlight — for now, anyway.

None ever won another major, some never won again in North America, one quit the job entirely, and hell, one of ’em even went to prison.

Let’s examine.

Mike Weir (2003): Poor play and injuries sent him tumbling down the world rankings, and by decade’s end, he was struggling to maintain PGA Tour status.

Trevor Immelman (2008): His career highlight was his last PGA Tour win. Within two years, tendonitis in his left arm was wearing him out. By 40, he was Jim Nantz’s wingman in the CBS booth — and a good one, by the way.

Angel Cabrera (2009): It was five years before he won one last time on Tour, though he nearly won the 2013 Masters. Over the next decade after his Masters win, he had just two top-10s in 31 majors. After two years in an Argentine prison, he returned to pro golf this year at the senior level and has three wins on the PGA Champions Tour, including the recent Senior PGA Championship.

Charl Schwartzel (2011): Has had just five top-10s in his next 42 majors. Reminded us he was still kind of relevant when he signed with the LIV Tour.

Danny Willett (2016): As a past champ, he remains Masters-eligible at age 37. But it’s the only major for which he retains playing status. He recorded one top-10 in 28 majors after taking advantage of Spieth’s 2016 meltdown.

Sergio Garcia (2017): After shedding his label as best without a major, he slowly slid away, eventually joining the LIV crowd. He won one ho-hum tournament (the 2020 Sanderson Farms) after his Masters victory, and a few times in Europe, but in 27 majors since that 2017 Masters, there have been zero top-10s and 16 missed cuts.

Dustin Johnson (2020): It was his 24th and final PGA Tour win before jumping at the LIV money two years later. He’s missed the cut in half of his 18 major starts since 2021. He has one year left on the 10-year U.S. Open exemption, and after that, the Masters could become the only major he plays. That’s pretty stunning when you consider his level of play just five years ago.

Jon Rahm (2023): It’s probably premature to count this guy, since he’s just 30 and has contended in a couple majors since winning in Augusta. But the Masters triumph came during a time when he was swearing allegiance to the U.S. tour, and it came eight months before he ditched that tour for LIV. His Masters win certainly gave him added contractual leverage with LIV’s rainmakers, but did it also doom his future?

Should Tiger Woods be on this Masters list? Maybe

Tiger Woods didn’t make the above list for obvious reasons. His first Masters win, in 1997, heralded an unmatched decade-plus of dominance. But you can make a case for the curse with Tiger’s 2019 Masters victory, which in retrospect has a Damn Yankees feel to it.

Quite literally, a fair amount of blood, sweat and tears flowed between Tiger’s 14th major (2008) and his 15th (2019). In the post-tournament presser six years ago, he admitted to looking forward to a day or two away from the clubs, beginning the next day. 

Sounds normal. But Tiger was never exactly normal, and even if he was going to take a day off, it’s doubtful he would’ve admitted it. He might not have sold his soul for that long-awaited return to glory, but he looked like a guy who’d given everything he had left to make it happen.

And look what all happened since then.

And now consider Rory, who at 36 certainly has a lot of time to get over this Augusta hangover. 

Unless it’s not just a hangover. 

— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com