What Rory McIlroy has in common with Patrick Mahomes and LeBron James has been identified

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Rory McIlroy is undoubtedly the biggest name in professional golf at the moment, especially with Tiger Woods currently out of action.

This was already the case before 2025, but McIlroy’s victory at The Masters in April only heightened his fame.

The Northern Irishman also won the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Players Championship, the Irish Open, and helped Europe win the Ryder Cup this year.

His status as an all-time great now cannot be questioned, and he is even drawing comparisons to legends in other sports.

Gary Williams recently explained how McIlroy is indeed similar to both Patrick Mahomes and LeBron James. 

• READ MORE: The advice Rory McIlroy gave to amateur golfers on how to overcome nerves on the golf course

Gary Williams compares Rory McIlroy to Patrick Mahomes and LeBron James

Williams suggested that McIlroy is similar to many of the biggest names in world sport because he is a “polarizing” figure for golf fans.

Almost everything he says or does makes the headlines, and there will always be some people who applaud him and others who criticize him.

This also applies to Patrick Mahomes in football and LeBron James in basketball, both of whom can never escape the media spotlight.

“I think with Rory, there’s a polarizing component to it,” Williams explained. “If you look at other sports, [Tom] Brady was polarizing. A lot of it was rooted in how much they won.

“And [Patrick] Mahomes, same thing. ‘I’m over this. Enough of him.’ LeBron [James], same thing. I don’t know if Aaron Judge and [Shohei] Ohtani get a lot of negativity.

“But Rory is a lightning rod for things because he’s righteous with his words. And then the Ryder Cup, I think, takes his profile in a broader sports sense into a much wider lane.”

Gabby Herzig added that the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, where McIlroy came under intense scrutiny from the crowd, only boosted his profile.

While many enjoyed watching his fiery responses to the disruptive American fans, others argued that he lacked professionalism.

“Absolutely. Especially the way that he reacted to a lot of the Ryder Cup drama around the crowd,” Herzig added. “He wasn’t shy about responding to the criticism that he was getting out there, the heckling. And some people love it, and some people don’t. As you said, it has that polarizing aspect.

“A lot of people have opinions about Rory McIlroy. He drives conversation in the sport, and I definitely think that adds to the way that he’s become this global superstar.

“It’s fun to have debates and discuss what Rory is doing, what decisions he’s making, his opinion on X, Y, and Z that’s happening in the sport. So, it definitely all adds to his status right now in the game.”

Gabby Herzig explains why Rory McIlroy is more relatable than Scottie Scheffler

The top two superstars in professional golf in 2025 are clearly Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler has enjoyed more success in recent years, but McIlroy remains the bigger draw.

Herzig believes one of the reasons the Northern Irishman is so popular is that he is more relatable than Scheffler, and most world-class athletes, for that matter.

McIlroy is not a robot who says all the right things and never puts a foot wrong. He wears his heart on his sleeve and often makes mistakes, but that’s why fans can relate to him.

“I look at Rory as more of a global superstar than Scottie Scheffler. And also, Rory has just been around for much longer in the golf ecosystem,” Herzig continued.

“I know this is very anecdotal evidence, but there was a trend going around on the internet a few weeks ago where golfers or people following the golf community asked their significant other or their friends who don’t necessarily know golf to name 30 golfers and see who they could come up with.

“I’m not sure if you saw this going around, but anecdotally, I think Rory was at the top of a lot of those lists, and Scottie Scheffler came a little bit downwards. That’s kind of how you see which names are seeping into the general news feeds of your friends and family who don’t necessarily play golf. So, I actually thought that was a really fascinating exercise.

“Scottie Scheffler is winning all the time. He’s the most dominant player in golf right now, but Rory has that human element to him where he really wears his heart on his sleeve. He describes himself as an impulsive person, and I think a lot more people can relate to that in terms of their two personalities as well.”