Why We Should Not Put Too Much Pressure on Rory McIlroy

View From The Fairway by Derek Clements

Surprise, surprise! Rory McIlroy wins The Players Championship and, as sure as night follows day, there is feverish speculation about his chances of winning The Masters.

Without wishing to put a damper on things, I believe we should temper our expectations. Yes, it was another huge win for the Northern Irishman. Yes it was his second big victory of a fledgling season. 

But let’s not pretend that this was vintage McIlroy, because it most certainly was not. His driving accuracy was woeful all week at TPC Sawgrass. He also missed a lot of greens with short irons in his hands. And his putting was no better than average.

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Coming down the final stretch during the final round he led by three shots and looked to be cruising towards victory. But things are never straightforward when McIlroy is involved. He stumbled this way home and was incredibly lucky to make Monday’s three-hole playoff after JJ Spaun’s putt to win the whole shooting match came up agonisingly short.

In truth, the outcome was never really in doubt when we knew that there was going to be a three-hole playoff. 

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

Spaun is a fine golfer but he has a solitary PGA Tour victory to his name. McIlroy now has 28. He has pocketed very nearly $100m in prize money on the PGA Tour alone and also has four majors to his name, albeit the last one of those came 11 years ago.

McIlroy collected $4.5m for winning the Players. He will hardly notice the difference to his bank account. It is almost like small change. Spaun’s runner-up finish was worth $2.75m - trust me, that will help to change his life.

McIlroy will certainly take heart from the fact that he won the PGA Tour’s flagship event while way short of his best. And will no doubt count his blessings that so many of his rivals appear to be struggling for form with the season’s first major just around the corner. 

Scottie Scheffler has looked totally out of touch and has been pretty spikey on and off the course - something that is entirely out of character for the world number one. Xander Schauffele also looks like a shadow of the golfer who won two majors in 2024 as he returns to action from injury.

McIlroy will play in this week’s Houston Open before Augusta but it should be recognised that TPC Sawgrass and Augusta National are two very different animals. 

If the Northern Irishman is to have any realistic chance of completing his long-awaited career grand slam then he is going to have to sort out his wedge play - something he says that he has been working hard to improve. And nobody wins The Masters without putting well. If he putts as he did at Sawgrass then he has little or no chance of donning the green jacket this year.

There is also one huge intangible - he seems to change his Masters preparation every year, looking for that piece of magic that might finally get him over the finishing line. This year he has opted to play in this week’s Houston Open as he gets ready for Augusta.

That he wants to win this tournament more than any other on the planet is beyond doubt. 

If he can do it then he will join an elite group of golfers comprising Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan as the only men to have won all four majors. The likes of Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Seve Ballesteros, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson were all unable to do so.

And, of course, the longer McIlroy goes without winning The Masters, the more difficult it becomes. He may tell us different but he is kidding nobody when he says that he does not feel any special pressure on the eve of this wonderful tournament. He feels it all right. In spades. And that goes some way towards explaining his patchy performance.

We have seen at the US Open in each of the past two years that there are frailties in his game that kick in when the pressure is at its greatest - and usually when he has a putter in his hands.

There are those who accuse McIlroy of being a choker. That is utterly preposterous. In my view, he remains the most naturally gifted golfer of his generation and his achievements within the game are mind boggling.

I would remind you - he has won four majors, 28 PGA Tour titles, 18 DP World Tour titles, six Race to Dubai titles, three FedEx Cups…the list goes on and on.

But please do not believe that his victory at the Players Championship increases his chances of success at Augusta. First and foremost, he needs to get off to a decent start, and he hasn’t always done that in the past.