Columnist image

TSN Senior Reporter

| Archive

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. -- Two years ago, Rory McIlroy left the PGA Championship having notched his second win in the year’s final major and with a total of four majors to his credit.

All that stood between the Northern Irishman and the career grand slam was a Green Jacket. Many thought that would be like a two-foot uphill putt with no break. It should have been easy.

But McIlroy didn’t win the Masters. In fact, since that second PGA title, he hasn’t won any majors. Not a U.S. Open, or an Open Championship. He’s one tournament away from going through a second year without a one of the big four.

Yet, ever the optimist, he still believes he has the ability to win one major a year, starting with this one.

“I think it’s realistic,” he said on Tuesday at Baltusrol Golf Club. “I really do. If you can win one of the four every year, if you’re that good, you can do that. I think it is realistic. I think that is achievable. We’ve seen in the past that it’s achievable. That’s the benchmark.”

McIlroy knows it’s possible because he essentially did it. He won four titles from 2011-14, averaging one a year. During that stretch he played some phenomenal golf, winning the U.S. Open by eight shots in 2011, and taking the 2012 PGA Championship by the same margin.

Last year, McIlroy posted top 10s in the first two majors and then injured his foot playing soccer. That caused him to miss the Open Championship and to play the PGA Championship while on the mend. He was never a factor.

This year has been another somewhat flat season by his lofty standards. He had top-10 finishes in the Masters and Open Championship although he was never a threat to win either. At the U.S. Open, he found the wrong side of the draw weather-wise and missed the cut.

“I feel there's been times where I got a little bit of momentum, and then sort of got set back a little bit,” said McIlroy when asked to describe his year. “It's sort of been a little stop-start in a way. But it's hard. It's hard to like stay -- not stay positive. I'm trying to stay as positive as I can. I feel like I am positive because my game is in good shape. But I guess just maybe running out of patience a little bit and trying to make it happen.”

Getting to the level he has, the season can really be summed up in four weeks. There are lots of significant events each season – McIlroy won his own Irish Open for example -- and there are points for the Race to Dubai and the FedEx Cup, but the measuring stick starts and ends with the four major championships.

That’s why this week is so crucial to defining his year. If he wins, it will be a success. If he doesn’t, it’s a good year but not a great one.

Coming into this week, the 27-year-old feels good about his game, which seems to be an improvement over his last start at the Open Championship. Although he finished tied for fifth at Royal Troon, his week included some horrid putting and was punctuated by a club throw after one particularly poor three-wood.

“I had some really good practice sessions with my coach, Michael Bannon last week,” he stated. “I feel like I'm swinging it well. I'm hitting it good. Every aspect of my game, I'm very comfortable with. So you know, combine that with the layout of the golf course here, and I feel like this is my best chance this year to win a major.”

It also happens to be his last chance. Whether he gets to lift the Wannamaker Trophy for the third time will determine how the next eight months will sit with him. Waiting for Augusta and another season of majors is harder when the memories of your last win grow smaller in the rear-view mirror.