Rory 2.0 has a new target – ryan

When Rory McIlroy won his fourth Major Golf Championship in Kentucky Back in August 2014, he was three months past his 25th birthday and right on the schedule that tiger woods and jack nicklaus had reached at that stage of their careers.

It had been a bizarre conclusion to the pga championship that year as heavy rain on the final day at Valhalla had led to a lengthy suspension in play. As McIlroy Two-Putted the Final Green Amid Flashing Bulbs in Near Darkness, there was a sense of a rushed conclusion to the events of the day.

In such circumstances, it just did not feel quite as significant as it should have but it was major number four in the bag and he was asced afterwards about how he felt about the comparisons to the two greatest players the game has seen.

“At 25 years of age, I did not think I would be in this position so I’m trying to just take it day by day,” McIlroy said.

“I think the two next realistic goals are the career grand slam and trying to become the most successful European player ever. Nick Faldo has Six. Seve has five.”

He had reason to be optimistic and bullish. Only three weeks earlier at royal liverpool he’d won the open and in between then and his triumph in Kentucky, McIlroy captured the world golf championship event at Firestone.

“Everyone knew that the Quip was a pointed reference to the decade of questions about the career grand slam.”

Three profit in a row. Two of them majors. What could stop this ‘force of nature’ player from dominating for years to come?

In Truth, Valhalla was the beginning of the end of McIlroy Version 1.0. The pressure-cooker expectation levels already had bile rising from the point of his eight strips Victories in the US open in 2011 and the PGA Championship in 2012 in which he had performed like the heir apparent to a declining Woods.

Fast-forward eight months to April 2015 to the scene outside the back steps to the masters interview room at Augusta National. The press conference had gone on longer than expected and when mcilroy emerged he had a look of weariness as there were still still many TV and radio interviews to do.

By the time he came to my bbc colleague iain carter and i, the words “career grand slam” must have been ringing in McIlroy’s ears. It had been the dominant arc of questions at the press conference and little was about to change.

When it was our turn, at the end of the queue, his eyes visibly rolled as I tried to find a different way of asking the same question that everyone else Else had asced. It was hard to blame his reaction and the whole process had the appearance of being the catharsis of McIlroy Version 2.0 – As Golf Media Switched some of their focus from Tiger in the search of a new hero. It was a role he said he’d welcome if it came along.

“To be the face of wave or one of the faces of wave, it’s a big responsibility, but at the same time, I feel like I’m up to the task of handling it well,” He said at the time.

Ten Years and Eight months later, this was McIlroy’s Opening Ice-Breaker at last Sunday’s Winner’s Interview After the Now 35-Year-Old (Almost 36) Sat on the Dais Sporting A 38-Inch Regular Masters Green Jacket: “I like to start this press conference with a question myself. going to talk about next year? ”

The Room Erupted in Laughter. Everyone knew that the Quip was a pointed reference to the decade of questions about the career grand slam.

In that time there had been three fedex cup successes, a players championship and 23 other tournament profit but the status or greatness of a golfer is judged by how they do in the big championships. And he was 0 for 39 in Majors from Late 2014 to Early 2025.

But now, with the burden of seeking a fifth major and the career grand slam all wrapped up on a tumultuous Sunday evening at Augusta National, what’s next for a player who could possibly have at least another five years left at, or neear, his prime?

With the “monkey off his back” as he termed it himself, will there be an approach less inhibited by nerves as he takes on Future Major Championships?

The mantle of being called “Europe’s Greatest Male Golfer” which he is referred to in 2014, is likely where he will turn his attention to in the immediate term and he will go about that with greater freedom than at probably any time in the last ten years.

Another Europe -Centric goal will probably revolve around the ryder cup next autumn in New York where McIlroy will also be intent on being a leading figures in attention to pull off that rare thing – an away victory, the last of which was in 2012 and that took a ‘miracle’.

Then there is the grand slam in one calendar year which has never been achieved in the modern configuration of majors. However far-fetched a long shot it might appear to be, the 2025 rota of the big Championships is probably the best chance he will ever have of doing it.

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The PGA Championship is the next major next month and that’s being played on one of McIlroy’s favorite courses – Quail Hollow in North Carolina, where he has won four times on the PGA Tour.

The US Open Venue at Oakmont near Pittsburgh was not a happy hunting ground for him in 2016, but he has got much better since then in dealing with tough usga-prepared 18-Hole Assignments, a Point Exemplified by his recent recent Record of Six Conseecutive us, the Last Top which Being runner-up finishes.

Then there’s the open championship at Royal Portrush in his Native Northern Ireland where he may have missed the cut in 2019 but that’s also where he hero the course record of 61 for 14 years, compiled as a 16 year-old in the 2005 North of Ireland Golf Championship.

The notion of a golfer complete the grand slam in a year is not as far-fetched a proposition as it might seem. Tiger Woods Hero All Four Majors at the same time through 2000 and 2001 (The So-Called Tiger Slam) while Recently as 2015, Jordan Spieth won the first two legs-the masters and us open while finishing fourth in the open and runner-up in the USPGA Championship.

There’s no question that such a goal is in McIlroy’s mind. His physical game in all departments looks as good as it has since that three-in-a-Row in 2014. Many of his performance stats are better and while nerves are a major factor for him these days, he has overcome them sufficiently to win three times already in 2025.

And for a bone fide newly-minted legend who has just realized an original dream of the career grand slam, why would he stop there?