While it was far from the greatest shot of his Sunday at The Masters, Rory McIlroy’s putt in the playoff to seal the Career Grand Slam will automatically go down as one of the most iconic moments of his career.
Of course, the final day at Augusta National perfectly summed up Rory McIlroy‘s quest to win that fifth major. Moments of audacious greatness were mixed in with one or two incidents of agony.
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Nevertheless, the 2025 season was undoubtedly a great one for McIlroy. He also won at Pebble Beach and TPC Sawgrass. And to round off the year, the 36-year-old clinched the Irish Open in some style.
Few will ever forget the reaction to the putt McIlroy holed to make it into a playoff at The K Club.
Why Rory McIlroy has become one of the best putters on the PGA Tour
McIlroy was outstanding on the greens last year. It perhaps went under the radar just how good he became with the flat stick because of the dramatic improvement he seemed to make with his short irons.
But he finished the season as the ninth best putter on the PGA Tour.
And speaking on 5 Clubs, Brad Faxon explained what has been pivotal in turning McIlroy into such an impressive performer on the greens.
“I was talking to Rory yesterday at the Bear’s Club where he was practicing before leaving last night to fly to Dubai to have his first two tournaments on the European Tour. And we can’t remember the last time he’s made a practice stroke. He says the only time he might do it is on a longer putt aside of the ball where he makes some long and loose strokes,” he said.
“I’m so proud of him because he’s [36 years old] now and he’s just had his best putting year. Depending on what statistic you look at, he finished ninth in strokes gained putting for a season. When players like Scheffler and Rory have a great putting year like that, they’re hard to beat.
“What Rory said to me about why he thinks he putted so well last year, it was just one word, it was ‘acceptance’. And maybe that’s underrated. What does acceptance mean? You have to accept every putt you hit whether they go in or they don’t go in.
“And I think how you respond to missed putts is an art, and how can you use how your mind works to keep putting better and better. And acceptance is something that Rory really felt like when he was hitting good putts that didn’t go in, previously that would get him down a little bit, or a little bit frustrated like it does for anybody. I think that’s a real big reason why he putted so much better last year.”
The challenge for McIlroy after a fantastic 2025 on the greens
The challenge for McIlroy now will be sustaining the success that he had on the greens in 2025. There have been a couple of occasions in the past where he has shown promise with the putter before struggling the following year.
Over the last decade, he has been as low as 159th for strokes gained putting on the PGA Tour.
| Year | Rory McIlroy’s PGA Tour rank for strokes gained putting |
| 2016 | 139th |
| 2017 | 159th |
| 2018 | 97th |
| 2019 | 24th |
| 2020 | 122nd |
| 2021 | 66th |
| 2022 | 16th |
| 2023 | 65th |
| 2024 | 59th |
| 2025 | 9th |
But with Scottie Scheffler having no weakness whatsoever, McIlroy surely cannot afford to have another significant dip with his putter if he hopes to contend on a consistent basis.
Hopefully, the changes made over the last couple of years have raised McIlroy’s floor on the greens.
There are going to be plenty more iconic moments to come if McIlroy remains so strong at both ends of the bag.
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