Masters 2025: Rory McIlroy's biggest major championship disappointments as he returns to Augusta National

Yahoo

05-05-2025

Rory McIlroy has been great in just about every major championship he's teed it up at over the last decade or so.
But, remarkably, his drought continues.
McIlroy entered the Masters this week more than 3,800 days removed from his last major championship win, which came back at the 2014 PGA Championship. That was more than 10 years ago.
Since that win — his fourth major victory in four years — McIlroy has accomplished just about everything possible in the golf world. He's up to 28 wins on the PGA Tour, and he essentially became the face of the league amid its brief fight against LIV Golf. He's been a staple on the international stage, too, and he even helped launch a new indoor league alongside Tiger Woods. But for whatever reason, he can't seem to break through at the major championships. For better or worse, that's how success in the golf world is measured.
"The last few years I've had chances to win some of the biggest golf tournaments in the world, and it hasn't quite happened," he said. "But life moves on. You dust yourself off and you go again."
McIlroy is in a unique position this year at the Masters. He's already won twice on the PGA Tour this season, which is something he's never done before the Masters in his career, including at The Players Championship last month. He's not missed a cut in his five starts, and his worst finish this season was a T17 run at The Genesis Invitational in February. He's No. 2 in the Official World Golf Rankings and arguably playing as well as he ever has in his career.
And yet, in this year's Masters — the one major he needs to complete the career grand slam — the question remains: When is he going to win No. 5?
It's not that he hasn't come close. In fact, he has 21 top-10 finishes at the majors since his last win, including eight in his last 12 starts. That, though, isn't something he's trying to focus on.
"It's just narratives. It's noise," McIlroy said. "It's just trying to block out that noise as much as possible. I need to treat this tournament like all the other tournaments that I play throughout the year.
"Look, I understand the narrative and the noise, and there's a lot of anticipation and buildup coming into this tournament each and every year, but I just have to keep my head down and focus on my job."
A win this week would be historic, but McIlroy has to overcome what's starting to feel like a curse that's becoming harder and harder to break. Here is a look at his biggest major championship heartbreaks since his last big win.
Let's start with McIlroy's last major win, which came at Valhalla Golf Club in 2014. Then 25, McIlroy was in the midst of an incredible stretch of golf. He won the British Open and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in consecutive starts, and then came out and dominated the field for most of the week in Kentucky to claim his second career Wanamaker Trophy.
McIlroy finished at 16-under on the week, one shot ahead of Phil Mickelson, and became just the fourth player in the last 100 years to win four majors at 25 or younger.
McIlroy won four majors in a four-year span back then, and seemed on a great pace to keep racking up wins. That, somehow, just hasn't happened.
This stretch, while there were certainly chances, wasn't too frustrating — though that's likely due to the fact that it wasn't that far removed from his last major win.
McIlroy, after winning two majors in 2014, finished in fourth at the Masters and T9 at the U.S. Open before withdrawing from the British Open with an ankle injury. When he returned the following summer, though, McIlroy went on a three-year run where he finished T5 or better at The Open.
His best finish there came in 2018, when he finished in a tie for second — two shots back from Francesco Molinari.
Back in the United States, McIlroy finally snapped three straight years of missed cuts at the U.S. Open in 2019 with a T9 finish. He had four straight top-10 finishes at the Masters, too, but only one of them was really that close.
McIlroy posted a 65 on Saturday at the Masters in 2018, which was his best round at the course in years and got him into the final pairing with eventual winner Patrick Reid. It was by far his best shot at the career grand slam, but he fell apart. McIlroy hit just eight greens that day and shot a 2-over 74 — which was one of the worst rounds in the field. He ended up finishing six off the lead in T5. A respectable finish on paper, but undoubtedly a missed opportunity.
After the chaos that was the early days of the LIV Golf-PGA Tour battle, McIlroy appeared ready to make a legitimate push to end his major dry spell. These losses are much, much more painful than the ones that came in the immediate aftermath of his 2014 PGA Championship win.
2022 Masters
McIlroy did just about everything right on Sunday at Augusta National in 2022. He carded an 8-under 64, which marked his best single-round score at the event, and he had six birdies and an eagle without a single bogey on his scorecard. He even holed out from the bunker to end his day.
But McIlroy's round came just way too late. It was his only round of the week that broke 70, and he still ended up finishing three shots back of Scottie Scheffler. It wasn't necessarily heartbreaking — McIlroy said after that it was the 'first year in a long time' that he left the Masters feeling happy — but it was the closest McIlroy has come to completing the career grand slam.
2022 British Open
McIlroy blew this one in 2022, which not only would've been a historic finish at the Old Course at St. Andrews, but also ended a painful major season. McIlroy, tied for the lead after 54 holes, held a two-shot lead at the turn in the final round. He hit every green in regulation that Sunday, and had three great looks at birdie on the front nine, but he just stalled out.
While he coasted to the finish with a 2-under 70, Cam Smith flew ahead. He made five straight birdies to jump up the leaderboard to grab the win while McIlroy slid into third. While it was McIlroy's fourth top-10 finish at a major in 2022 — he finished T5 at the U.S. Open and eighth at the PGA Championship — he couldn't find a win.
2023 U.S. Open
McIlroy's loss at the Los Angeles Country Club was incredibly frustrating. But, like the Masters the year before, he didn't really do anything wrong. His issue was just that he left every birdie chance out there.
McIlroy opened the final round with a birdie, and then posted an even-par 70 to wrap the U.S. Open — which had him just one shot behind Wyndham Clark, who picked up his first major championship. McIroy left multiple birdie putts short, including one that was just 20 inches shy of the cup at the final hole that would've tied Clark and potentially forced a playoff.
While it may not be as dramatic as his other major losses, McIlroy left a golden opportunity out there in Los Angeles.
2024 U.S. Open
This loss, a year later, was much more frustrating. McIlroy nearly rallied all the way back from a big deficit to catch Bryson DeChambeau last summer at Pinehurst. But he missed two putts inside just 4 feet in his final three holes to leave the door open for DeChambeau, who ended up winning his second U.S. Open title.
McIlroy's last miss, at the 18th, was truly awful.
😱 😱 😱 😱RORY MISSES ON 18.Bryson can win the U.S. Open with a par on 18. pic.twitter.com/lSk0ZzzZK2
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 16, 2024
DeChambeau then hit a wild bunker shot to save his par and grab the win. Had McIlroy's 4-footer fallen, or the putt two holes earlier that was equally as short, he would've forced a playoff.
McIlroy immediately left the clubhouse after the loss and didn't speak to reporters, and he withdrew from the Tour's last signature event of the season the following week. About a month after his U.S. Open loss, McIlroy missed the cut at the British Open completely.
Though he's appeared to have put this behind him heading into another major season, McIlroy will have to redeem himself at Oakmont Country Club this summer regardless of what happens in Augusta this week.