AUGUSTA, Ga. — The late-day sun was almost below the horizon, settling behind the pines that line Augusta National’s fifth fairway. Many of the remaining patrons who’d just witnessed history — and there were thousands still wandering the course, smiling in the golden light — gathered to watch Rory McIlroy don a green jacket at last, at long last.
Chants of “RO-RY! RO-RY!” rang out around the putting green where McIlroy stood, flanked by his family, his caddie, 2024 champion Scottie Scheffler, and an array of green jackets. A few patrons waved their caps, Ryder Cup Euro-style; one hoarse guy tried to get a “GRAAAAND … SLAM!” chant going, but he was alone.
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In the center of a circle of patrons, in the center of the golf universe, there stood McIlroy in his brand-new 38 Regular green jacket. He didn’t look quite right in it yet, like a star player in the uniform of their blood rival, but he’ll get there.
Over the course of a short speech — less than four minutes — McIlroy paid tearful, joyful tribute to the club, the patrons, his family, even Augusta National’s no-phone policy … and then he wrapped his speech with a hint of what’s to come.
“I can’t wait to be here next year in Scottie’s position,” McIlroy said, hopefully putting the green jacket back on myself.”
The patrons cheered, the green jackets rose to their feet, the camera flashes popped, and McIlroy left the circle to begin his new life as a Masters champion.
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Now what?
At long last, Rory McIlroy has a green jacket of his own. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
McIlroy now has five majors, as many as any player of his generation and tied for 15th all-time. Unlike, say, Tiger Woods, who also went 11 years between winning his penultimate major and his most recent one, McIlroy is very much in the prime of his career; he’s already won three times this year alone. He’s been competitive through the entire major drought, averaging better than two top-10s a year. He’s finished in the top 3 more times (five) than he’s finished outside the top 10 (four) in the last three years’ worth of majors.
Most significantly, he has one hell of a favorable major slate coming up. First up, there’s the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, a place where McIlroy has won four times. McIlroy went back-to-back in winning his third and fourth major back in 2014 — the Open Championship and the PGA — and the road to repeating his repeat is wide open.
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After the PGA comes the U.S. Open, held this year at Oakmont — a course that rewards driving distance and accuracy, a course whose slick greens mirror Augusta National’s. A course that plays to McIlroy’s current strengths, in other words. And then the Open Championship will tee off at Royal Portrush, where McIlroy once shot 61 as a 16-year-old. He’ll be aching to wipe away the memory of 2019, where the pressure of a home game overwhelmed him.
A calendar-year grand slam — which no one has ever accomplished in golf’s professional era — is probably a bit too ambitious of a hope for McIlroy. But another major isn’t too much to expect, not when he’s playing at this level, not when he’s just thrown two tons of weight off his back.
For inspiration, McIlroy could look to another sport. It’s impossible to remember now, but Tom Brady went a full decade, from 2004 to 2014, between winning his third and fourth Super Bowls. Like McIlroy, Brady came agonizingly close — two lost Super Bowls, three lost conference championships — and like McIlroy, Brady kept hammering away at the top of his game. (Yes, there are significant differences between an individual sport like golf and a team sport like football. We’re going for high-level metaphor, not 1:1 comparison.)
The point is, once Brady started winning again, he won a lot. Four times in seven years, to be exact. McIlroy has that potential ahead of him, too. Along with Scheffler, he’ll be a favorite at every major for the foreseeable future. And when you combine his innate skill and his well-honed resilience with the newfound knowledge that success is always within his grasp, we might be in for a new era of Rory McIlroy. He’s already among the game’s greats; he might just ascend to stand among its legends.
