Rory McIlroy: Near Misses

Rory McIlroy is one of the most recognisable golf stars in the world today. He has had a hall of fame career, winning the US Open in 2011, the PGA Championship in 2012 and 2014 and the Open Championship in 2014. Since 2014, he has become the nearly man, at least in the majors. He has still managed to win countless of PGA Tour events throughout his career, winning 17 PGA Tour events since his last major win (26 in total). He has also won 8 DP World Tour events since his last major win (17 in total).

In 2024, he has impressively managed to win 3 times across both tours. He was victorious in January in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour, winning that particular event for a 4th time. He won the Zurich Classic alongside partner Shane Lowry in April on the PGA Tour, as well as the Wells Fargo Championship in May, on the same tour. Over the last couple of months, McIlroy has missed out on adding to his major tally, but also his tour wins tally, through a mix of bad luck and mistakes. Let’s dive into these near misses, as well as comparing McIlroy to a particular golfer he’s not too fond of!

Near Misses

As mentioned, McIlroy has come close to victories over the last number of weeks and months. In the last 3 months, Rory McIlroy has finished 4th in the Canadian Open, 2nd in the US Open, 4th in the Scottish Open, 5th in the Olympics, 2nd in the Irish Open and 2nd in the BMW PGA Championship. The three 2nd places is what will sting McIlroy the most. He easily could have won all three of those events, if something slightly different had happened. In the case of the US Open, the blame lies with McIlroy himself. McIlroy made mistakes coming in missing two short putts for par. He overshot the green on the par 3 15th, hitting a 7 iron, where 8 iron was probably the right club, with eventual winner Bryson DeChambeau using the latter club. This left many blaming McIlroy’s caddy Harry Diamond. Between this and the missed putts it’s fair to say McIlroy did not win the US Open through a mix of himself and his caddy.

The second placed at the Irish Open and BMW PGA, which came a week after each other can be put down to slight bad luck. Rory lost the Irish Open to Rasmus Hojgaard by one stroke, with an eagle put sliding by the hole on the 18th to force a playoff. McIlroy did 3 putt the 17th putting him 2 strokes behind going onto the 18th, but these 2 strokes can be linked to the fact that Hojgaard chipped in twice on the back 9, including the 17th. It is hard for McIlroy to legislate for that. The following week at the BMW PGA McIlroy would finish runner up again, this time losing a playoff to Billy Horschel. Both Horschel and McIlroy birdied the first play off hole, with South African Thriston Lawrence bogeying it, to eliminate him. McIlroy would birdie the second play off hole, but would still lose. Horschel managed an amazing eagle to defeat the Northern Irishman and leave him heartbroken. McIlroy done nothing wrong in the playoff and only lost through a moment of brilliance from Horschel and more bad luck for McIlroy.

Similarities to Greg Norman

Rory McIlroy may not like to hear this but there is similarities in his career to that of Greg Norman. McIlroy is not the biggest fan of Norman, as he is the CEO of LIV Golf, the breakaway tour McIlroy has been very critical of over the past couple of years of its existence. Norman won countless times throughout the world, like McIlroy has. Worldwide Norman won 88 times, with 20 wins on the PGA Tour and 14 on the European Tour (now DP World Tour), very similar numbers to McIlroy for those tours. Norman won 2 majors, the 1986 and 1993 Open Championships.

Norman became known for his near misses both in majors and PGA Tour events, often with bad luck involved. He lost the 1987 Masters to a Larry Mize chip in, he lost the the 1986 PGA Championship through a bunker chip in by Bob Tway. In the 1989 Open Championship he lost a playoff to Mark Calcavecchia. Going into the final playoff hole, Norman and Calcavecchia were tied, but two successive bunker shots by Norman gave Calcavecchia the victory. He also blew a 6 shot lead at the 1996 Masters, similar to how McIlroy blew a 4 stroke lead at the 2011 Masters.

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