Rory McIlroy may find one golf tournament simply too difficult to win as he chases golfing immortality

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Rory McIlroy might not be the No.1 golfer in the world rankings, but he’s the best player on the planet right now.

His win at The Masters last week helped him cement his place in the history books, as he became only the sixth player ever to complete the Grand Slam.

Despite winning regularly over the past decade, Rory McIlroy went 11 years without triumphing at a major championship up until Sunday at Augusta National.

During those barren years, Rory McIlroy was put on edge’ by some of his competitors, according to Padraig Harrington, Jordan Spieth included.

As the years passed, the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm began to upstage him in the four biggest events of the year.

The 35-year-old had to sit back and watch his rivals win numerous majors whilst he was stuck on his tally of four from 2014 all the way through to 2025.

That must have been so difficult for the Northern Irishman. When he burst onto the scene as a teenager more than a decade and a half ago, many tipped him to make a run at Jack Nicklaus’s record haul of 18 major wins.

Rory McIlroy blew away the Titleist manufacturers when he was just 19 with his unique, powerful movement through the ball, and it seemed like the sky was the limit for the supremely talented kid from Holywood.

Rory has since gone on to win 29 PGA Tour events, and has 19 DP World Tour titles to his name, so it’s impossible to create a narrative that he has somehow been a failure.

However, the fact that he had only won four majors up until the start of the 2025 Masters would undoubtedly have left him with a feeling of disappointment.

Now that has completely switched. He will be looking to get into double figures for major wins before his career is done.

Rory McIlroy may find one golf tournament simply too difficult to win

Now that Rory has completed the Grand Slam, he should be entirely freed up to go on and achieve golfing immortality.

He has won all there is to win in the game, aside from an Olympic gold medal of course.

There is also one other accomplishment McIlroy is yet to achieve in the game.

In fact, no other golfer in the history of the sport has ever been successful in doing it.

In order to win the calendar year Grand Slam, you have to win The Masters first to have any chance. McIlroy now has three more majors to win this season, if he is to make history.

The closest anyone has ever got to winning the calendar year Grand Slam was when Tiger Woods held all four majors at once.

He won the US Open at Pebble Beach, The Open Championship at St Andrews and the PGA Championship at Valhalla in 2000, before winning The Masters in 2001.

That was dubbed the ‘Tiger Slam’, and was obviously an incredible achievement.

But could McIlroy eclipse Tiger’s unbelievable accomplishment by actually winning all four majors in the same year?

The Open Championship could be Rory McIlroy’s downfall

His game is in fine shape right now – probably the best it has ever been. The five-time major winner is 1st in total strokes gained, first in strokes gained off the tee and 10th in strokes gained putting (PGA Tour website).

So it could be argued that he will never have a better chance of winning all four majors in the same season.

The remaining majors this season are at Quail Hollow, Oakmont and Royal Portrush.

McIlroy has won multiple times around Quail Hollow on the PGA Tour, whilst Oakmont places a premium on straight and long driving.

It has to be said that the man from Northern Ireland will be the strong favourite to win both of those tournaments.

However, The Open Championship at Royal Portrush may well be where he comes unstuck.

Despite his win at Hoylake in 2014, McIlroy has never been a great links player, due to his struggles when trying to knock the ball down under the wind.

He was lucky that the weather was benign that week 11 years ago in Liverpool. If the wind blows at Portush though, he may well find it hard to compete.

Also, let’s say the 35-year-old does win the US Open and The PGA Championship heading into Portrush.

Can you imagine the pressure he would be under to win in his home country? The tension would be palpable and certainly not conducive with Rory McIlroy producing his best golf.

Aside from his win in 2014, his record at The Open isn’t bad, but it’s certainly not as good as it should have been.

Rory McIlroy missed the cut the last time The Open was held at Royal Portrush in 2019 – the year that Shane Lowry ended up victorious.

He shot an eight-over par 79 in his opening round that year, after carding a quadruple bogey eight on his first hole.

If Rory McIlroy heads into The Open Championship this year as the holder of the three other majors, there is every chance that he will find it almost impossible to live up to expectations during that week in July.