If Rory McIlroy finishes his career without ever winning The Masters, then he will look back on 2011 as his greatest opportunity and biggest fallaway when he finally gets time to digest his near misses.
McIlroy is very much still chasing that elusive green jacket and with The Masters not long away now, all the talk is once again of Rory finally winning.
Of course, McIlroy is in fine form in 2025 and only a fool would suggest he isn’t going to be one of the main contenders if he plays well.
However, he has to play well. And in playing well, he has to keep consistent and if he does find himself leading, not completely lose it like he did in 2011.
Holding a four-shot lead to the field on the Sunday, McIlroy shot a dismal final round of 80 to finish way back and in a tie for 15th.
And at the time, McIlroy was able to pinpoint exactly where things went wrong.
Rory McIlroy knows the exact moment his 2011 Masters bid fell apart
Rory McIlroy has always been good to talk to for the press and as far back as 2011, he was very much a goldmine with his honesty.
Indeed, checking back in on those comments in the aftermath of his Sunday meltdown, McIlroy could name just when things started to unravel.
“I’m very disappointed. You know, I was leading this golf tournament with nine holes to go, and I just unravelled. Hit a bad tee shot on 10, and then never, never really recovered. You know, it’s going to be hard to take for a few days, but I’ll get over it. I’m fine. A couple of pretty good friends were in a similar position to me last year in Dustin Johnson and Nick Watney.
“I knew it was going to be very tough for me out there today, and it was. I felt good that I hung in well for the first nine holes, and then as I said, just sort of lost my speed on the greens, lost my line, lost everything for just two, three holes, 10, 11, 12, and couldn’t really recover after that.”
Pressed further on the moment it started going wrong, McIlroy went back to that tenth tee box again.
“Yeah, probably the tee shot on 10. I felt comfortable on that tee shot all week, and for some reason I just started it a little left of where I wanted to, hit that tree, and I don’t think anyone’s been over there in those cabins before (laughing). Yeah, the 7 on 10 just sort of derailed me a little bit and it was hard to get back.”
What Rory McIlroy claimed he’d learn from 2011 Masters failure
Remarkably, Rory McIlroy hasn’t come as close to winning The Masters since, with his best finish coming with a second place back in 2022 when Scottie Scheffler first triumphed.
Interestingly, at the time in 2011, McIlroy claimed he’d come back stronger from the dismal finish.
I think it’s a Sunday at a major, what it can do,” McIlroy quipped at the time. “This is my first experience at it, and hopefully the next time I’m in this position I’ll be able to handle it a little better.
“I didn’t handle it particularly well today obviously, but it was a character building day, put it that way. I’ll come out stronger for it.”
| Masters | PGA Championship | US Open | The Open | Total | |
| Best finish | 2nd (2022) | T-7th (2023) | 2nd (2023, 2024) | T-2nd (2018) | 2nd |
| Top 10s | 6 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 21 |
| Missed cuts | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
Of course, McIlroy went on to win four majors after this loss so in a way, he did learn and grow.
However, with a Masters title still evading him, he’s clearly not fully learnt the lessons enough to win around Augusta and once again, the pressure is on.
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