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.AUGUSTA, Ga. — When Rory McIlroy needs a reality check, or just needs to be reminded about life outside the bubble of being one of the greatest ever to swing a golf club, all he has to do is think back to that day three weeks ago when his daughter had a very simple question:
"Daddy, are you famous?" asked 4 1/2-year old Poppy McIlroy.
McIlroy had just won The Players Championship and his sizzling start to the season was a hot topic with the Masters, and majors season, approaching.
Poppy had just returned home from school that day, and she was wondering why some of her classmates were talking so much about her daddy.
Rory's answer: "It depends who you talk to."
Ah, the innocence.
Not much debate on McIlroy's popularity, no matter who you talk to. The Jupiter resident is one of the most recognizable sports figures in the world as one of the most decorated golfers on any tour. His 28 career PGA Tour wins are more than anyone not named Tiger Woods. Add in 18 DP World Tour titles and a handful of others, and this is a career headed directly to the World Golf Hall of Fame.
More: Bernhard Langer knows plenty of tears will be shed during his final Masters | D'Angelo
Yet, even for a man whose accomplished so much, including recently becoming the second golfer to surpass $100 million on the career money list (again, second to Tiger), this is not a life immune to disappointment.
And for McIlroy, the venue he is playing this week has been the source of disappointment.
McIlroy, 35, is more than a decade removed from the last of his four major championships. From 2011 to 2014, he won the U.S. Open, PGA Championship twice and the British Open.
That means Thursday, when McIlroy tees off at Augusta National at 1:12 p.m. in a group that includes Ludvig Aberg and Akshay Bhatia, it will mark the 11th time he is seeking to complete the career Grand Slam at the Masters.
With it comes plenty of attention, especially for the No. 2 golfer in the world.
"Look, I understand the narrative and the noise, and there's a lot of anticipation and buildup coming into this tournament each and every year, but I just have to keep my head down and focus on my job," McIlroy said Tuesday.
"It's just trying to block out that noise as much as possible. I need to treat this tournament like all the other tournaments that I play throughout the year."
The closest McIlroy has come to completing that Grand Slam was a runner-up finish in 2022, but even that was not close, not with Scottie Scheffler having a five-shot lead on 18. Scheffler won by three.
Five other times, McIlroy was top 10, including fourth in 2015 and fifth in 2018 and 2020.
McIlroy's year started with a win at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a couple of top 20s at the Genesis Invitational and Arnold Palmer Invitational before his second Players championship. He followed that with a T5 at the Houston Open.
All of which has most looking at this week's first major as a two-man race between McIlroy and world No. 1 and defending champion, Scottie Scheffler.
And even with all he has accomplished, many do not trust McIlroy when it comes to pressurized situations.
"I think if they’re tied with three holes to go, I’d have to go with Scottie just because I think Rory might be trying so hard to finish it off that he gets in his own way," ESPN golf analyst and two-time major winner Andy North said.
As much as he tried to tune it out, McIlroy knows the narrative. And that grew last June at Pinehurst when he missed two short par putts in the final three holes to hand the U.S. Open to Bryson DeChambeau.
Although it would not have completed the Grand Slam, it would have silenced the noise about winning that fifth major.
McIlroy is proud of his record since last summer's heartbreak. In 12 events worldwide, he has seven top 10s, including those two wins on the PGA Tour this year.
But, the only one in which he missed the cut was the British Open.
"I think over the course of my career I've showed quite a lot of resilience from setbacks, and I feel like I've done the same again, especially post-June last year and the golf that I've played since then, and it's something that I'm really proud of," he said.
"You have setbacks, and you have disappointments. When you have a long career like I have had, luckily, you sort of just learn to roll with the punches, the good times, the bad times, knowing that if you do the right work and you practice the right way, that those disappointments will turn into good times again pretty soon."
McIlroy called dealing with the disappointments and not allowing them to eat you alive "self preservation." But as important is he now understands, especially in this profession, heartbreak will happen. It's inevitable.
And when you accept that, when you are not fearful of taking those chances that could lead to anguish, dealing with the results are easier.
"People, I think, instinctually as human beings we hold back sometimes because of the fear of getting hurt, whether that's a conscious decision or subconscious decision, and I think I was doing that on the golf course a little bit for a few years," McIlroy said.
"But I think once you go through that, once you go through those heartbreaks, as I call them, or disappointments, you get to a place where you remember how it feels and you wake up the next day and you're like, yeah, life goes on, it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
"You dust yourself off and you go again."
And again and again. In fact, 10 times at the Masters. Will that mean the 11th time is the charm?
Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at [email protected].
The 89th Masters
Thursday-Sunday, Augusta National, Augusta, Ga.
TV: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m., ESPN; Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m., CBS
Defending champ: Scottie Scheffler
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Masters 2025: Rory McIlroy seeking to complete career Grand Slam
Continue reading...
"Daddy, are you famous?" asked 4 1/2-year old Poppy McIlroy.
McIlroy had just won The Players Championship and his sizzling start to the season was a hot topic with the Masters, and majors season, approaching.
Poppy had just returned home from school that day, and she was wondering why some of her classmates were talking so much about her daddy.
Rory's answer: "It depends who you talk to."
Ah, the innocence.
Not much debate on McIlroy's popularity, no matter who you talk to. The Jupiter resident is one of the most recognizable sports figures in the world as one of the most decorated golfers on any tour. His 28 career PGA Tour wins are more than anyone not named Tiger Woods. Add in 18 DP World Tour titles and a handful of others, and this is a career headed directly to the World Golf Hall of Fame.
More: Bernhard Langer knows plenty of tears will be shed during his final Masters | D'Angelo
Yet, even for a man whose accomplished so much, including recently becoming the second golfer to surpass $100 million on the career money list (again, second to Tiger), this is not a life immune to disappointment.
And for McIlroy, the venue he is playing this week has been the source of disappointment.
McIlroy still seeking elusive Grand Slam
McIlroy, 35, is more than a decade removed from the last of his four major championships. From 2011 to 2014, he won the U.S. Open, PGA Championship twice and the British Open.
That means Thursday, when McIlroy tees off at Augusta National at 1:12 p.m. in a group that includes Ludvig Aberg and Akshay Bhatia, it will mark the 11th time he is seeking to complete the career Grand Slam at the Masters.
With it comes plenty of attention, especially for the No. 2 golfer in the world.
"Look, I understand the narrative and the noise, and there's a lot of anticipation and buildup coming into this tournament each and every year, but I just have to keep my head down and focus on my job," McIlroy said Tuesday.
"It's just trying to block out that noise as much as possible. I need to treat this tournament like all the other tournaments that I play throughout the year."
The closest McIlroy has come to completing that Grand Slam was a runner-up finish in 2022, but even that was not close, not with Scottie Scheffler having a five-shot lead on 18. Scheffler won by three.
Five other times, McIlroy was top 10, including fourth in 2015 and fifth in 2018 and 2020.
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McIlroy's year started with a win at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a couple of top 20s at the Genesis Invitational and Arnold Palmer Invitational before his second Players championship. He followed that with a T5 at the Houston Open.
All of which has most looking at this week's first major as a two-man race between McIlroy and world No. 1 and defending champion, Scottie Scheffler.
And even with all he has accomplished, many do not trust McIlroy when it comes to pressurized situations.
"I think if they’re tied with three holes to go, I’d have to go with Scottie just because I think Rory might be trying so hard to finish it off that he gets in his own way," ESPN golf analyst and two-time major winner Andy North said.
As much as he tried to tune it out, McIlroy knows the narrative. And that grew last June at Pinehurst when he missed two short par putts in the final three holes to hand the U.S. Open to Bryson DeChambeau.
Although it would not have completed the Grand Slam, it would have silenced the noise about winning that fifth major.
McIlroy is proud of his record since last summer's heartbreak. In 12 events worldwide, he has seven top 10s, including those two wins on the PGA Tour this year.
But, the only one in which he missed the cut was the British Open.
"I think over the course of my career I've showed quite a lot of resilience from setbacks, and I feel like I've done the same again, especially post-June last year and the golf that I've played since then, and it's something that I'm really proud of," he said.
"You have setbacks, and you have disappointments. When you have a long career like I have had, luckily, you sort of just learn to roll with the punches, the good times, the bad times, knowing that if you do the right work and you practice the right way, that those disappointments will turn into good times again pretty soon."
McIlroy called dealing with the disappointments and not allowing them to eat you alive "self preservation." But as important is he now understands, especially in this profession, heartbreak will happen. It's inevitable.
And when you accept that, when you are not fearful of taking those chances that could lead to anguish, dealing with the results are easier.
"People, I think, instinctually as human beings we hold back sometimes because of the fear of getting hurt, whether that's a conscious decision or subconscious decision, and I think I was doing that on the golf course a little bit for a few years," McIlroy said.
"But I think once you go through that, once you go through those heartbreaks, as I call them, or disappointments, you get to a place where you remember how it feels and you wake up the next day and you're like, yeah, life goes on, it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
"You dust yourself off and you go again."
And again and again. In fact, 10 times at the Masters. Will that mean the 11th time is the charm?
Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at [email protected].
The 89th Masters
Thursday-Sunday, Augusta National, Augusta, Ga.
TV: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m., ESPN; Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m., CBS
Defending champ: Scottie Scheffler
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Masters 2025: Rory McIlroy seeking to complete career Grand Slam
Continue reading...
