Rory McIlory needs to remember what he said ten years ago as he tries to win another major in 2025

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When Rory McIlroy won both The Open and the PGA Championship back in 2014, few would have imagined it would be the last time we saw him win a major.

McIlroy is now heading into his 11th season since winning at Valhalla and Royal Liverpool within a month of each other to cement his legacy as one of the best players ever.

However, McIlroy has had an agonising time since. Near-misses at Augusta National and more recently this year the US Open have played hard on his mind.

Indeed, McIlroy admitted this year he’d let conditions dominate him, while Paul McGinley has spoken of the mental aspect of McIlroy’s game being an issue.

And as that discussion point about mentality continues to crop up, McIlroy could do well to look back at his thought process and comments from when he won The Open in 2014.

Rory McIlroy’s 2014 comments could help him win his next major

Obviously, McIlroy is now a more well-rounded golfer and still very much one of the best players in the world.

But back at Royal Liverpool in 2014, as a more fresh-faced 24-year-old with less worries, McIlroy had a very simple mindset in terms of shot-making that could well help him win again.

“Very simple. It’s going to be a big let down for everyone. It was “process” and “spot”. That was it. With my long shots I just wanted to stick to my process and stick to making good decisions, making good swings,” McIlroy said at the time.

“The process of making a good swing, if I had any sort of little swing thoughts, just keeping that so that the end result wasn’t — I wasn’t thinking about the end result, basically. And then “spot” was for my putting. I was just picking a spot on the green and trying to roll it over my spot, roll it over my spot every time. I wasn’t thinking about holing it. I wasn’t thinking about what it would mean or how many further clear it would get me. I just wanted to roll that ball over that spot. If that went in, then great. If it didn’t, then I’d try it the next hole.

“So “process” and “spot”, that’s all I kept telling myself all week.”

McIlroy making changes to go big in 2025

It’s not that Rory McIlroy has forgotten how to win, far from it. He continues to win on the DP World and PGA Tours and remains one of the very best around.

However, the is a mental block somewhere in the major championships. Eventually, McIlroy will win one and he’s clearly making changes now to benefit 2025.

McIlroy has made some recent swing changes which looked to work well out in Dubai, while McIlroy has also reduced his schedule, which could well aide him further.

The Masters in April will be the big one for McIlroy and it always is. If he can finally win that, then the monkey will be off his back and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him add two or three more majors before he’s done.