Rory’s major quest rolls to Royal Troon
McIlroy reaches decade of frustration; Forecast doesn't favor late starters; No exemption love for LIV
Rory McIlroy takes good form into Open at Royal Troon (Oisin Keniry/R&A via Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy has seemingly moved past his disappointment from the U.S. Open. At least the four-time major champion is discussing it without dodging any of the issues. He knows he let a great opportunity slip at Pinehurst No. 2 last month when Bryson DeChambeau pulled off a great bunker shot to set up a winning par. He also knows he’s been playing some really good golf.
And so it is that McIlroy begins play in the last major championship of the year with his final opportunity of 2024 to end what is now a 10-year drought in the majors. When he won the Open and PGA Championship in back-to-back months in 2014 at age 25, hardly a soul in the game believed he’d go a full decade without another major.
This will be the 38th major McIlroy has played since his win at Valhalla, which followed a win in the Open at Royal Liverpool. Two years earlier, McIlroy won the PGA at Kiawah Island and in 2011 he won the U.S. Open at Congressional.
He missed the 2015 Open at St. Andrews due to an ankle injury and there was no Open played in 2020 due to the pandemic.
A lot has happened in the intervening decade but it’s fair to say that McIlroy’s best opportunities have really come in the last few years.
He shot a final-round 70 at St. Andrews two years ago, hitting all 18 greens in regulation on Sunday, and still finished third behind Cam Smith and Cameron Young.
Last year, McIlroy finished a shot short of Wyndham Clark at Los Angeles Country Club at the U.S. Open.
And there were the three bogeys in the final four holes at Pinehurst last month.
“I know that I’m in a good spot,” McIlroy said. “If I think about 2015 through 2020, that five-year stretch I seldom had a realistic chance to win a major championship in that five-year period. So I’d much rather have these close calls. It means that I’m getting closer.