While Rory McIlroy finds himself inside the top 10 heading into the final round of The Tour Championship, you really get the feeling that he has been ready to see the back of this season ever since his opening round at Royal Troon at The Open.
When Rory McIlroy reflects on his 2024, it is surely going to be difficult for the Northern Irishman to look past one putt, which came on the 16th hole at the US Open when the 35-year-old was leading. Of course, every golf fan knows what ended up happening over the next hour.
After some time away, McIlroy finished tied for fourth at the Scottish Open while he was fifth at the Olympics. On both occasions, it never really felt as if he was in serious contention to secure a third win of the season. And the missed cut at Royal Troon suggested that the scars from Pinehurst were going to take a lot longer to heal. McIlroy ended up snapping his driver in half at the BMW Championship last week.
McIlroy is inside the top 10 at The Tour Championship, but 15 shots adrift of Scottie Scheffler after rounds of 69, 69, 68 at East Lake. He is six shots back of third place Sahith Theegala, so it looks set to be an underwhelming finish by his standards.
Justin Rose makes Rory McIlroy prediction ahead of 2025
Given that McIlroy has now gone a decade without a major win, some will be writing off his hopes of ever winning another after what happened in North Carolina. But speaking on Sky Sports (broadcast on 31/8), Justin Rose suggested that he is optimistic about the response from McIlroy next year.
“Yeah, I think it’s this time of year, right. There’s a lot of us out on tour, there’s so much on the line and you want to have your best golf when it matters most, and that is truly the sense of what the play-offs are all about: can you bring your best when it matters most? But there’s been a lot that’s gone into this point to even give yourself an opportunity,” he said, as he was asked about McIlroy’s recent form.
“Major championships I guess, are what a lot of us will measure the year on and I think there’s one where we will all know what happened to Rory, I don’t know, maybe it’s taken a pep out of his step for the time-being. He’s probably looking forward to a big reset. Thing about Rory is the minute you begin to doubt him a touch, he typically comes back very, very strongly so I expect good things from Rory definitely next year, for sure.”
The big problem Northern Irishman now faces before The Masters
McIlroy is definitely too good a player not to bounce back at some stage, but he is arguably facing one serious problem ahead of The Masters next year.
Ultimately, he has won virtually everything in the game, so winning anymore events on the PGA Tour is unlikely to banish the demons from the US Open. Instead, it is only going to be once he wins another major that he will surely be able to move from Pinehurst.
And obviously, when he does get into that position at another major, it will be nearly impossible for him to not wonder whether history will repeat itself. He would probably hole that putt he missed on 16 in any other event, or even at any other time in that major, which suggests that the pressure got to him at that moment.
And that pressure is almost impossible to replicate until he finds himself in that situation again.
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