One of the big questions in the golfing world heading into the new year – once again – concerns whether Rory McIlroy can finally end his wait for a fifth major title.
Few would have ever believed at the end of 2014 that Rory McIlroy would go into 2025 still awaiting his fifth major. The Northern Irishman was 25 when he won the PGA Championship at Valhalla.
There have been plenty of bleak times in the years since. However – perhaps even more frustratingly – McIlroy has come desperately close to winning on a handful of occasions. Of course, no result was more agonising than the US Open at Pinehurst, where three bogeys in the final four holes cost him the crown.
McIlroy has finished in the top 10 in eight of the last 12 majors. Meanwhile, the last year which passed without the 36-year-old registering at least one top 10 in the majors was 2008.
Rory McIlroy tipped to miss out on PGA Championship to European Ryder Cup teammate
The PGA Championship at Quail Hollow looks to provide a fantastic opportunity for McIlroy to end his wait for a major this year. He has won the event now known as the Truist Championship on four occasions during his career.
Speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Ryan Lavner suggested that McIlroy has a very good chance of success, but admitted that he is backing one of his Ryder Cup teammates to secure his first major title at the event.
“If he’s driving it on a string, it’s Rory McIlroy. Quail Hollow Club has set up perfectly for him in the past. He has two wins there. If he’s putting the ball in play, hitting it 330 off the tee, he is going to win there. However, I don’t think that’s actually going to happen. Rory McIlroy and the major championships, still a little bit of a cursed scenario,” he said.
“So I’m going to go in a different direction with Ludvig Aberg. I was shocked that Ludvig, the big Swede, didn’t win in 2024. I think it remains to be seen just how much the knee issue that he had that sort of popped up in May and April affected him for the remainder of that season. But if he can improve, if Ludvig can improve his short game and putting, which are the only weaknesses that he has in his game, this is a guy that’s built to last for the long haul.
“He’s just such a proficient ball-striker, great driver of the golf ball, so solid, unflappable. Yes, I’d love to see win more because he makes that leap into a major champion in 2025, but hey, you’ve got four months to get there before you get to the PGA Championship.”
Encouraging signs in 2024 for Ludvig Aberg
It has been a meteoric rise for Aberg. He made his Ryder Cup debut within a couple of months of turning professional – playing his part in handing Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka the heaviest defeat in the event’s history.
His first PGA Tour victory was not too far around the corner. And while he is yet to add a second win, he did finish in the top 10 on eight occasions in 2024. He also finished second at the Masters as he made his major championship debut.
Aberg did miss the cut at two of the next three majors. But it is hard to imagine that that is a sign of what is to come from the Swede.
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