Rory McIlroy achieves career first on the PGA Tour in 2025 which he has never been close to doing before

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Rory McIlroy has enjoyed a hugely successful 2025 season on the PGA Tour, but he has definitely been in reverse since the PGA Championship in May.

McIlroy began the 2025 PGA Tour season by winning The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, before triumphing at The Players Championship the following month.

However, the crowning moment of the Northern Irishman’s career came back in April when he won the Masters and completed the career Grand Slam in the process.

Weirdly though, the 36-year-old has gone backwards since that victory, rather than kick on to even greater levels.

McIlroy’s past few months on the PGA Tour were summed up by his somewhat absent-mindedness at the BMW Championship last week.

Rich Beem suggested that McIlroy seemed to be going through the motions at the BMW Championship.

All of the current problems the five-time major champion has can be attributed to his bizarre attack on the media.

McIlroy’s driver was deemed to be non-conforming ahead of the PGA Championship in May, and because his name was leaked, he then refused to speak to the press for six straight major rounds.

That whole situation, and the way in which he handled it, has led to three months of distinctly average form. However, he has achieved one thing statistically in 2025 that he has never been able to before.

Rory McIlroy achieves career first on the PGA Tour in 2025

McIlroy has won all there is to win in the game throughout his tremendously successful career.

However, over the last three months it has seemed like he has lacked the hunger needed to compete at the very highest level.

McIlroy himself admitted that he felt like he had climbed his very own Mount Everest and needed to set new goals in order to rediscover not only his best form, but his hunger to play and compete.

In spite of his patchy form, the Masters champion has very unexpectedly excelled in one particular category this season.

The five-time major winner is averaging more strokes gained on the greens than he is off the tee – something he has never been remotely close to doing before in his career.

The really interesting thing about this is that McIlroy’s improvement on the greens has gone somewhat unnoticed.

The Northern Irishman has transformed himself into a very good putter and that bodes well for him ahead of the 2026 season and beyond.

Rory McIlroy’s PGA Tour putting stats since 2019

McIlroy’s putting has always been streaky at best, often distinctly average and downright poor at worst.

However, the same cannot be said for his driving of the golf ball.

He hasn’t finished outside the top four in strokes gained off the tee since the 2019-20 season, and he ended up in sixth spot that year!

So the fact that McIlroy is gaining more strokes on the greens than he is off the tee this season is truly remarkable.

Aside from the 2021-22 season, which was clearly an anomaly, McIlroy has been an average putter at best through his career.

So the fact that McIlroy has been the fourth best putter on the PGA Tour this season should be hugely encouraging for him, and a sign of big things to come.