There was a spell in the Men’s Golf Olympics last week where it seriously looked like Rory McIlroy could go all the way.
Going into Sunday, the Holywood man found himself four shots off gold medal contention and on the back nine of the final day he birdied five holes in a row.
However, on the 15th hole when things started to heat up, the 35-year-old did what fans have become all too familiar with and let any chance of major silverware slip through his fingers, chipping his approach shot straight into the water.
McIlroy went on to double bogey the hole, ultimately deciding his Olympics fate as he finished two shots off a bronze medal. In the post-round interviews, the four-time major winner looked as though he was putting on a brave face in the midst of what has been a mostly disappointing season.
When McIlroy first burst onto the scene in 2011, winning the U.S Open at the age of just 22, he was arguably the most exciting golfer to emerge since Tiger Woods.
Fast forward 13 years later, and McIlroy has three more majors to his name thanks to a fantastic 2014 season, but has now clocked up 10-year drought of winning any of golf’s biggest competitions.
One of McIlroy’s biggest demons in the golfing world appears to be the green jacket of Augusta. The Masters is a competition that continues to evade him much to his dismay, denying him the title of having a career grand slam, a feat only five players in history have managed to complete.
The 2024 Masters was no different than what McIlroy has come to experience in his 15 attempts to win one of golf’s most prestigious competitions, finishing T22 and 15 shots behind winner Scottie Scheffler.
As each opportunity goes by to win the competition it becomes harder to imagine him completing his career’s biggest goal. He has all the experience and talent in the world but it now seems as though he needs a little bit of luck to put the two together in Georgia.
In his mind, the countdown to the 2025 Masters has probably already begun. The PGA Championship followed, and although McIlroy finished a more respectable T12, he never truly got the grips of the golf course and failed to truly challenge.
McIlroy’s decade-long major drought is a reputation that he’ll be increasingly frustrated to be associated with, and it looks as though it now plays on his mind when he finds himself in serious contention.
This season, McIlroy’s biggest opportunity in years to end his drought came in the U.S Open, as he found himself in the lead with just a few holes to go against American opponent Bryson DeChambeau.
The Northern Irish man played excellently almost all weekend, utilising his biggest weapon in his driver to great advantage, often finding the fairway with 350 yard missiles. In just a few holes though, his competition fell apart, missing three-foot putts for bogey, while also shooting himself in the foot on the last hole with confusing club selection.
He did not hesitate to leave the golf course without doing his post-round media duties or congratulating DeChambeau on his win, a move he was ultimately criticised for. Although the criticism was mostly fair, it’s hard to gauge just how devastating a loss this was for McIlroy, being by far the closest chance in the 10 years past to break his unwanted streak.
He took a break from golf after the upset, pulling out from the Travelers Championship and instead reportedly strolled around Manhattan in an attempt to clear his head and prepare his mindset for a comeback. He bounced back from the US Open in respectable fashion, finishing T4 in the Scottish Open, a competition he won in the previous year.
When it came round to The Open the following week, though, McIlroy posted some of his most embarrassing rounds to date.
In the opening round, a score of 78 was recorded on his scorecard as he truly struggled to get a grasp of the course’s harsh conditions, failing on nearly every attempt to correctly take in account the strong winds for his swing.
The following day was not much better, shooting a 75 that featured a very rare triple bogey. His performances meant his weekend ended prematurely, missing the cut and continuing the woes that followed him from the U.S Open.
With the four majors and the 2024 Olympics wrapped up, it would be hard to gauge just how Rory is feeling. Even with a season of mostly disappointments and shortcomings, it’s a place the golfer has been before, and a place he has repeatedly bounced back from.
It’s a testament to his mentality that despite his repeated falters, he still finds himself in contention more often than not. Everyone knows that when McIlroy wants to be the best golfer in the world, he can be.
When he finds himself once again in a situation when he’s feeling the heat and the pressure is building, it may pay dividends to remind himself of that.
