The change in tone in the initial reaction to Rory McIlroy’s fabled final day fairway shot that helped the Northern Irishman win the US PGA Championship a decade ago was stark.
McIlroy’s bid to win consecutive majors following a triumph in The Open at Royal Liverpool was slipping away as he stood on the 10th fairway at the Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky.
Then the world’s top ranked golfer, McIlroy had conceded a lead he had held since the second day in Louisville with an errant start on Sunday as Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler and Henrik Stenson zipped by him on the leaderboard.
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At the turn, McIlroy trailed by three shots. Standing 260 metres from the pin, McIlroy opted for a three wood as he faced his moment of truth on the Par 5 known as ‘Big Red’, which is named after legendary galloper Secretariat.
The ball flew low, hard and left. McIlroy’s facial expression immediately after his follow through was steely and in commentary on CBS, there was an audible groan as six-time major champion Nick Faldo said; “Oh. He’s necked it.”
But, as McIlroy explained in near darkness later that night after claiming the Wanamaker Trophy, “you need a little bit of luck in major championships to win”.
Instead of bouncing into thick rough to the left of the green, the ball railed like the Triple Crown winner Secretariat did when winning the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths in 1973.
Following the curve of the fairway, the ball bounced about 80 metres shy of the green and then twice more before rolling to within about six metres of the green, much to the surprise of Faldo, who became increasingly animated.
“Oh. Excuse me. Look at this one. Oh man. My apologies for calling it a neck,” Faldo said.
As McIlroy celebrated draining an eagle putt that reduced the deficit to one by pumping his right fist, Faldo’s co-commentator declared the star was “Right back in it”.
As the trio ahead struggled to hold their nerve over the back nine, McIlroy birdied the 13th and 17th and then, with darkness descending, found a greenside bunker on the 18th.
But he was able to recover and, not far from the famed Churchill Downs racecourse, two-putted the final green to salute the judge by one shot.
“The eagle on 10 was massive. I started the round very tentatively. I just didn’t really have it,” he said.
“I hit a 3-wood from, I think it was (260 metres) total. The ball flight was probably about 30 feet lower than I intended. And the line of the shot was probably around 15 yards left of where I intended.
“It was lucky. It really was. You need a little bit of luck in major championships to win and that was my lucky break.”
When McIlroy posed for photographs that night, he had the US PGA Trophy tucked under one arm and the Claret Jug under another. Mickelson declared him the world’s best player.
Also the winner of the 2011 US Open and the 2012 US PGA title, he joined Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, who designed Valhalla, as champions to have four majors by the age of 25.
“It’s always hard to compare players. If he is not the same (as Woods), he’s not far behind. He’s got every opportunity to move from here on,” Stenson told GolfWeek after the win.
‘Best I’ve ever seen him swing the club’ | 00:53
SO CLOSE … BUT NEVER CLOSE ENOUGH
The roar was deafening at St Andrews in 2022 as McIlroy strode to the 10th tee on Sunday to begin the back nine that would end a major drought no-one could have envisaged back in 2014.
“Rory. Rory. Rory.” History beckoned at St Andrews in the 150th Open and the cheering for McIlroy rang strong each day, but never louder than when he chipped in for an eagle from the bunker on the 10th hole on the third day to move to a share of the lead.
The makeshift stands set up to provide stunning vantage points of The Loop – the inter-crossing stretch of holes between the 7th and 12 holes on the Old Course – were reverberating with the crowd backing the golfer born in County Down with all their will on the last day.
Instead Cameron Smith, playing a group in front of McIlroy, went on a birdie blitz on five consecutive holes in a surge that swept the Australian to a remarkable win.
McIlroy did not play bad golf on the final day, making par after par after par. But the Queenslander’s blade was flashing for glory while the chants for “Rory” gave way to groans of disappointment as McIlroy’s putts for birdie regularly slid by the hole on the home stretch.
After signing his card and standing away from the crowds, the Irishman paused outside the scorer’s hut for what seemed an eternity, holding his cap in one hand with a look of disbelief on his face. McIlroy truly looked stunned by what had unfolded at St Andrews.
“I felt like I didn’t do much wrong today. But I didn’t do much right either,” McIlroy said.
“I played a very controlled round. I did everything I needed to, except for capitalising on the easier holes. I got beaten by the better player this week.”
Ultimately, he finished third in what has become a familiar pattern for a superstar who had golf firmly in his grip a decade ago.
In the 35 majors since his success in Kentucky, McIlroy has posted 20 Top-10 finishes in majors. His consistency is stunning. But he keeps getting pipped at the post in the big ones.
His inability to deliver a knockout blow on the final day in majors is perplexing given, as McIlroy said following his win in Charlotte on the weekend, he has “done everything else there is to do in golf since 2014”.
From topping the FedEx rankings on three occasions to doing the same on the DP World Tour and clinching the Race to Dubai four times, he has been phenomenally successful. On the PGA Tour alone, he has won another 17 times since his last success at Valhalla.
A Sports Illustrated feature attempting to explain why he had been cursed at major level since the Kentucky success explored the prospect he had become too rounded as a person, which flushed the ruthlessness from his game.
It was posed that McIlroy, who left school at 18 but has become a regular reader of books that require significant contemplation, had become too deep a thinker in life and on the golf course.
“He is trying so hard to be right-sized, which is what anyone should aspire to be,” the piece by long-time golf writer Mike Purkey reads.
“However, such a search could be his curse as a player and, in the end, his fatal flaw.”
There is, of course, a simpler proposition. Just as the bounce of the ball went his way at Valhalla in 2014, it failed to bend enough to his will at St Andrews in 2022.
But there is a remedy. If McIlroy continues to put himself into contention, one will eventually drop and the major drought will be over. He is surely too good a golfer for this not to occur.
McIlroy’s MAGICAL eagle from the bunker | 01:08
OMEN CORNER
After finishing five shots clear of Xander Schauffele to win the Wells Fargo Championship for the fourth time last weekend, McIlroy was considering the omens.
The last time he won at Valhalla, he entered the US PGA Championship with consecutive triumphs at The Open in Liverpool and then the Bridgestone Invitational.
The PGA is now earlier in the season but Valhalla is expected to play almost like a summer course over the next week given Spring arrived earlier than usual in Kentucky this year.
McIlroy is again seeking a hattrick, having partnered good mate Shane Lowry to win the Zurich Classic in New Orleans prior to his sizzling performance at Quail Hollow last week. After the win, the pair were pictured on stage belting out the Journey classic “Don’t stop believing”.
McIlroy never has. And in an interview with Sky Sports after his success in Charlotte on Sunday, he said it felt like the “stars are aligning a little bit”.
“It’s really funny. So, going into Valhalla in 2014, I had won my last two starts. And going into this year I’ve won my last two starts. (I) just need to replicate whatever I did in 2014, just try to do that all over again,” he said later in a post-triumph press conference.
“I’m feeling really good with my game. I need to stay in my own little world next week and not get too far ahead of myself, but if you can step on to the first tee at Valhalla on Thursday and feel as good about my game as I did today, I think I’ll have a good chance.”
McIlroy wrested the Wells Fargo Championship his way with a stunning run of two eagles and four birdies over eight holes saw him turn a two shot deficit after seven holes on Sunday into a dominant lead. He later said it reminded him of what he could do a decade ago.
“When you play an eight-hole stretch in 8 under par, it feels a little like that,” he said.
“I mean, I’ve been sort of banging on this drum for the last few years, but I am a way better player now than I was back then.
“I haven’t had the major record to back that up, but I have had the wins. I’ve done everything else there is to do in the game since 2014. The only thing I need to do is get another major.
“A win like this going into the PGA Championship next week is a good way to prep for that.”
McIlroy remains tied for Zurich lead | 01:44