Why Rory McIlroy is About to End His Major Drought

In this week's View From The Fairway, Golfshake's Derek Clements reflects on Rory McIlroy's chances of repeating his Open Championship victory at Royal Liverpool.

THERE are those who will be wondering if Rory McIlroy is ever going to win another major. His most recent success came at the US PGA Championship in 2014, a month after he had won The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.

McIlroy has been trying to complete the career grand slam ever since and, in truth, his annual quest to win The Masters has been painful to watch, never more so than in 2023, when he went in as most pundits’ favourite and then stuttered and stumbled his way to a missed cut that affected him so badly that he withdrew from the following week’s RBC Heritage with no plausible explanation.

But the Northern Irishman is nothing if not resilient. Although clearly not at his best, he somehow managed to finish in a tie for seventh at the US PGA Championship. 

And then, once again, he came agonisingly close at the US Open at Los Angeles, finishing a shot behind winner Wyndham Clark. His golf from tee to green was majestic, but he could not buy a putt.

This has becomes something of a theme for McIlroy in majors. In 2022 he started the final round of The Open at St Andrews in pole position. Again, he couldn’t hole a meaningful putt all day and ended up finishing third behind Cameron Smith. 

McIlroy has now finished second three times in majors, third three times and has 25 top-10 finishes. It is an incredible record, one that most golfers would happily settle for. But this is no ordinary golfer.

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

The 2023 Open Championship returns to Royal Liverpool. McIlroy will arrive with many happy memories. So will his father, Gerry, who collected a six-figure sum after his son won there in 2014 after placing a wager with some friends when McIlroy was a teenager that he would win The Open by the time he was 25. 

If the wind blows he is unlikely to feature but if, as expected, the conditions are calm, this could finally represent McIlroy’s best chance to end his major drought.

And it was interesting to hear Sir Nick Faldo say that he now believes McIlroy will be “seriously inspired” to win the Open without the pressure of talking about golfing politics.

He said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if Rory is seriously inspired at Hoylake. I’m sure he’d just love to just go and play, practice and play, with minimal off-course work and interference.”

McIlroy has, of course, been a mouthpiece for the PGA Tour and has had much to say about LIV Golf and everything it stands for. But he nows says that he will not be talking about it anymore and cancelled his pre-US Open press conference because he wanted to focus purely on his golf.

Apparently he has also settled his differences with Sergio Garcia. The Spaniard said: “The US Open was a great event for me. I feel like I played well. But more than anything, because I gained a friend back, a friend that I kind of felt like I lost in the last year or so.

“We talked and we had a great conversation, and I feel like I have that friend back, and that to me means a lot. That’s a very positive thing. No doubt it was the saddest part of all this, these friendships turning sour. I have my friend back.”

So Rory McIlroy will arrive at Hoylake with nothing but golf on his mind. You could do an awful lot worse than putting a bet on him to win. I already have.