With the victory, Young moves up to 12th on the LET’s Order of Merit.
England’s Liz Young held on tight at the Hero Women’s Indian Open to win her second career Ladies European Tour title. The 42-year-old mom pulled out a one-shot victory over a foursome of players including good friend Manon De Roey.
Leading by one stroke going into the closing par-5 at DLF Golf & Country Club, Young’s third shot found the water from the rough. As De Roey struggled from short of the green, Young managed to wedge it close from the drop zone at 100 yards to salvage bogey and claim the title.
Young won her first LET title at the VP Swiss Ladies Open after 14 years on tour at age 39, one month shy of her 40th birthday. She radiated joy while holding the trophy – a wooden cow. It was her 200th start on the LET.
Now, she’s a two-time champion on her home circuit. Daughter Isabelle will no doubt be thrilled.
“It was my birthday this week and it’s my daughter’s birthday next week. So it’s a good birthday celebration,” said Young. “She did want another animal to match the cow [from Switzerland] on the mantlepiece, so I don’t know if that’s going to happen! But it’s another trophy, so we can get rid of the horse which was a replacement on there.”
With the victory, Young moves up to 12th on the LET’s Order of Merit.
From 2 over to 10 over in a heartbeat. From a weekend tee time to a missed cut in a three-hole stretch.
And after being relegated off his own team in LIV Golf, Watson’s playing opportunities have been few and far between. However, the 12-time PGA Tour winner has been announced as a participant in the BNI Indonesian Masters next week, an event on the Asian Tour. The tournament is being held at Royale Jakarta Golf Club.
Although Watson has made eight previous appearances on the tour, this will be his first showing in the International Series, as well as his first in Indonesia.
Bubba Watson celebrates his hole-in-one on the fourth hole during the Par 3 Contest at The Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Network
“As everyone knows I have really enjoyed playing in tournaments overseas and so I am really excited about playing in Indonesia for the first time,” Watson said via a release from LIV Golf. “I enjoy coming to Asia and soaking in the sights and sounds and also seeing the diverse mixture of players out here.
“The BNI Indonesian Masters plays a big part in The International Series, which provides a pathway onto the LIV Golf League. I’m a big believer in LIV Golf, and I’m proud of the impact it has had on the game of golf worldwide.”
Watson won’t be the only LIV Golf member in the event, as Richard Bland of Cleeks GC and Danny Lee of Iron Heads GC will also be in the field, as well as John Catlin, who is fifth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit and The International Series Rankings. Also, Arizona State product Wenyi Ding, who just turned professional, will also be on hand.
Professional golf and top-ranked courses don’t always coincide as well as this week at Royal County Down.
Truly great courses and professional golf rarely collide, but this week is a welcome exception.
Royal County Down’s Championship Links, site of the Amgen Irish Open beginning Thursday on the DP World Tour, has a rare distinction: it’s one of only two courses to be ranked No. 1 on one of Golfweek’s Best premium rankings of courses to have hosted an upper-level men’s tour event in decades. The layout in Newcastle, Northern Ireland, ranks No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best list of courses outside the U.S.
Royal County Down originally was designed as a nine-hole layout by George L. Baillie in 1889. Nine more holes were laid down among the sandy dunes as designed by none other than Old Tom Morris over the following years. The course has evolved over the decades with contributions by George Combe, Harry Colt and Donald Steel, among others making suggestions.
The ninth green at Royal County Down in the lead-up to Amgen Irish Open 2024 in Newcastle, Northern Ireland (Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
Royal County Down has hosted a slew of top-level events including three previous Irish Opens, most recently in 2015. It also has been the site of various British Amateur Championships, Senior British Opens, a Curtis Cup, a Walker Cup, the British Ladies Amateur six times, and the European Ladies’ Team Championship.
Not counting our wide-ranging state-by-state rankings of public and private courses, the only other No. 1 on one of our premium lists to host a top-tier event has been Pebble Beach Golf Links in California, site of six U.S. Opens, one PGA Championship, one U.S. Women’s Open and multiple U.S. Amateurs and U.S. Women’s Amateurs. Also the annual host of the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the famed layout is No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best ranking of resort courses in the U.S.
By comparison, the private Cypress Point in California took over the No. 1 spot this year on Golfweek’s Best ranking of classic courses built before 1960 in the U.S., but the PGA Tour hasn’t been back since 1990. Before Cypress Point took over the top spot this year, Pine Valley in New Jersey had enjoyed a long run in the No. 1 spot, but that private stalwart never has hosted a PGA Tour event. That leaves Augusta National, ranked No. 3 among American classics and home to the Masters, as the highest-ranked classic course in the U.S. to have hosted a top-level men’s event in recent memory.
Among modern courses built since 1960 in the U.S., none of the top seven layouts have hosted a PGA Tour event. The Straits Course at Kohler’s Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, tied for No. 8 on that list, is the highest-ranked modern course to have welcomed top-level men’s events, including three PGA Championships, a U.S. Senior Open and a Ryder Cup.
‘Maybe I hit a few too many balls yesterday or something. It was just a little sore.’
CASTLE ROCK, Colo. – It’s never good to see a professional golfer reaching for their lower back after hitting a shot. It’s even worse when that golfer is World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who is trying to win the FedEx Cup for the first time to cap off a spectacular season.
But on the 17th hole, Scheffler hit his second shot and touched his lower back with his left hand. PGA Tour XM Radio’s Mark McCumber described it as if “it took his breath away” and Scheffler leaned on his club for an extra second.
Scheffler finished with a couple of pars and posted three birdies and two bogeys for an opening-round, 1-under 71. After the round, Scheffler downplayed any potential injury, saying, “It’s fine.”
Scheffler did concede that he woke up with a sore back and had trouble loosening it up.
“It was hard for me to get through it, and I was laboring most of the day to get through the ball,” he explained. “On 17 I was trying to hit a high draw, and that’s a shot where I’ve really got to use a big turn, big motion.”
Asked to elaborate on what happened, he said, “Maybe I hit a few too many balls yesterday or something. It was just a little sore. I’m sure I’ll get some ice on it and stuff, and I’ll be totally fine tomorrow.”
Would he do any special treatment? “Just normal routine. Just like always,” he said.
Scheffler was paired Thursday with Xander Schauffele, who is second in the FedEx Cup and shot 69 to best Scheffler, the FedEx Cup leader, by two strokes.
Schauffele said he noticed that Scheffler’s back was stiff when he tried to turn his head but joked that it may be a bigger problem for the field than for Scheffler, noting that Scheffler needed treatment on his neck at the Players Championship and elsewhere when he won. “I guess it’s a bad sign for everyone else,” he said.
United States Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley has appointed Brandt Snedeker as one of his vice captains for the 45th Ryder Cup, scheduled for Sept. 26-28, 2025, at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York.
This announcement follows Bradley’s earlier appointment of Webb Simpson as a vice captain, and it adds another experienced voice to the the U.S. team’s locker room. Snedeker, 43 is a veteran of two Ryder Cups, boasting a 4-2-0 career record. He was the only undefeated American player in the 2016 Ryder Cup, going 3-0-0 to help the U.S. team defeat Europe 17-11 at Hazeltine National in Chaska, Minnesota.
“As I’ve started preparing for the 2025 Ryder Cup, I quickly realized that Brandt was someone I wanted by my side,” Bradley said in a release. “Having competed in two Ryder Cups, including a stellar individual performance in 2016, Brandt’s experience and insight will surely be beneficial to our team in the months ahead.”
This will be Snedeker’s first appearance as a vice captain.
“I am so grateful to Keegan and the PGA of America for giving me the opportunity to represent my country in the role of vice captain,” Snedeker said. “The Ryder Cup is unlike anything in our sport, and I hope to bring the passion and pride to help Keegan deliver his vision of what a Ryder Cup in New York should look like. I am so excited to serve alongside my good friend Webb and know we will do everything in our power to help Keegan and the players be ready for a great competition next September at Bethpage Black.”
A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Snedeker has nine PGA Tour wins, with the biggest being the 2012 Tour Championship. He was the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 2007. Last week, Snedeker named the 2024 recipient of the PGA Tour’s Payne Stewart Award. The award is presented annually to a professional golfer who best exemplifies Stewart’s steadfast values of character, charity and sportsmanship.
Bland nearly holed a bunker blast on fourth playoff hole to lock it up.
It took a two-hole aggregate playoff then two more holes of sudden death as Richard Bland of England outlasted Hiroyuki Fujita of Japan for the U.S. Senior Open title Monday at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island.
Bland became the 12th player to win his U.S. Senior Open debut and the second golfer from England to win the title.
Playing No. 18 for the third time in the playoff, Bland almost holed his blast from a greenside bunker, the ball striking the flag and finishing inches from the hole. His par knocked out Fujita, who failed to get up and down from 44 yards short of the flag on the long par 4. Fujita’s lengthy par putt missed by an inch.
It was the second senior major title in two tries for Bland, 51, who plays on LIV Golf. In May he won the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores in Michigan.
“Your first two senior tournaments to be majors, and to come out on top is, I was just hoping going into the PGA that I was good enough to contend. I hadn’t played against these guys,” he said. “I knew, if I played the way I know I can play, it should be good enough to be able to compete. But, yeah, to be (standing) here with two majors is, yeah, I’m at a loss for words at the moment now.”
Both players had gone par-par-bogey in the first three playoff holes. After the playoff started on No. 10, they played the long, par-4 18th three times to settle the playoff.
On the fourth playoff hole, Fujita drove left and just inches off the fairway. But Fujita carries only a 5-wood, and with 259 yards to go, he was unable to reach the green in regulation. His approach ended up some 44 yards short of the flag in good position, and his pitch onto the green finished well short of the hole.
After having banged his drive past a fairway bunker, Bland had a 214-yard approach uphill but hooked his approach into a greenside bunker. From there, his par save locked up the title. The ball bounced once, kissed the flagstick, then looked as if it might fall into the cup before settling just inches away.
Bland closed in 4-under 66 to reach the playoff, while Fujita cooled off Monday and finished in 1-over 71.
Hiroyuki Fujita plays a bunker shot in the fourth round of the U.S. Senior Open on Sunday at Newport Country Club. (Louis Walker III/USA TODAY NETWORK)
On the first hole of the two-hole aggregate playoff, both players missed the fairway to the right on the 455-yard, par-4 10th. Fujita missed the green just short but was able to save his par after Bland missed his birdie putt.
On the second playoff hole, both players hit the fairway on the 466-yard, par-4 18th, their golf balls within steps of each other on the side of a mound. Both players hit the green and two-putted for par, the playoff then returning to the 18th tee for what turned into sudden death.
Both players missed the green on No. 18 on the third playoff hole, Fujita in a greenside bunker to the left and Bland slicing his approach well right. After Bland’s pitch and Fujita’s bunker blast, both players missed lengthy par putts and the playoff went to a fourth hole.
The final round was unable to finish Sunday because of dangerous storms. When play was called Sunday, Fujita had a three-shot lead on Bland and a four-stroke lead on Richard Green.
But Fujita, 55, made three bogeys on the back nine Monday after having just two bogeys in his first 64 holes, opening the door for Bland to catch him at 13-under 267. Fujita missed just one fairway in his first three rounds but wasn’t as sharp after the weather delay.
A par on No. 18 in regulation would have locked up the title for Bland, but he fell into the playoff with a bogey on the closing hole after driving into a bunker. Fujita narrowly missed a long birdie putt on the 72nd hole that would have given him the title.
Bland’s win gets him a spot in the 2025 U.S. Open.
“I know what you guys like to do with U.S. Opens, so just go easy on us olders. Maybe you can stick a tee up maybe for me,” he said. “It was my first ever tournament in America in at Bethpage in ’09, and I was just blown away by it. We’re always kind of like, oh, being from Europe or from the UK, our major is The Open, but I was blown away by the U.S. Open.
“I’ll be looking at flights to Oakmont for next year very, very soon.”
PGA Tour hires veteran marketing, communications officer from Aon.
The PGA Tour announced Monday it has hired Andy Weitz to serve as chief marketing and communications officer and executive vice president of investor relations.
The investor relations portion of the role will focus on developing messaging and communicating strategy for PGA Tour Enterprises, the new for-profit subsidiary of PGA Tour, Inc. The group was formed this year when Strategic Sports Group made an initial investment of $1.5 billion in the new commercial venture that gives players an investor stake in the business.
Weitz spent the past decade working for Aon plc, most recently as chief marketing officer for the global professional services firm. Aon has built deep relationships in golf in recent years.
Read the full media release announcing Weitz’s hiring below:
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida– The PGA Tour today announced that Andy Weitz has been named Chief Marketing & Communications Officer and Executive Vice President, Investor Relations, for the Tour’s global operations. In the role, Weitz will be responsible for positioning the PGA Tour brand for current and future investment while communicating its global strategy and performance to the Tour’s stakeholders and beyond.
“As our business continues to evolve and grow, Andy will be an invaluable addition to the PGA Tour given his experience as a trusted advisor to many of the world’s largest and most influential companies,” said PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan. “With his track record of helping global companies tell their stories and engage their stakeholders, as well as his deep knowledge of the business community, Andy will be instrumental in further elevating the PGA Tour brand and helping our organization grow.”
In addition to overseeing marketing and communications for the PGA Tour, Weitz will take on a newly created investor relations role that is responsible for developing messaging and communicating strategy for PGA Tour Enterprises, a for-profit subsidiary of PGA Tour, Inc., incorporated earlier this year. In January, the Strategic Sports Group (SSG) made an initial investment of $1.5 billion – with up to $3 billion available – into the new commercial venture, and this funding will allow the PGA Tour to make significant strategic investments to enhance the PGA Tour experience for fans and players, and benefitting tournaments, sponsors and other constituents.
Through the PGA Tour Enterprises structure, the PGA Tour unveiled a Player Equity Program, a first in professional sports. PGA Tour players now have an investor stake in the Tour’s commercial growth, which creates alignment between the organization’s athletes and the strategic investments that will further grow the game and engage the next generation of fans.
“With the launch of PGA Tour Enterprises and the investment made by SSG, the PGA Tour’s business has grown significantly in value, opportunity and complexity,” said Joe Gorder, PGA Tour Enterprises Board Chairman. “This new role is important to the PGA Tour’s ability to successfully execute its strategy and deliver an engaging, satisfying future product for fans.”
“In our search, Andy’s experience and clear ability to use a mix of techniques to reach and engage everyone from Main Street consumers to Wall Street investors stood out,” said Ed Herlihy, PGA Tour Policy Board Chairman. “I am confident Andy will contribute enormously to the organization’s future success.”
Weitz comes to the PGA Tour following a decade at Aon plc, where he most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer for the global professional services firm. During his tenure at Aon, Weitz led the integration of the worldwide marketing and communications team and the unification of its global brand strategy, including a rationalization of its sponsorship portfolio, which included properties across Premier League football, Formula One racing, Major League Baseball, the National Football League and international rugby. While at Aon, Weitz was also responsible for leading the firm’s widely recognized brand building efforts, especially advancements in its use of digital strategies to engage the firm’s colleagues, clients and investors.
In 2019, Aon established an Official Marketing Partnership with the PGA Tour, beginning with the award-winning “Aon Risk Reward Challenge” that launched simultaneously on the LPGA Tour and was the first program to offer equal prize money to winners on the men’s and women’s tours. At that time, Aon also became a worldwide partner of the Ryder Cup and introduced the “Nicklaus/Jacklin Award presented by Aon,” which recognizes the player that best represents the spirit of each Ryder Cup competition. More recently, Aon evolved its PGA Tour relationship to include naming rights to the new eligibility paths for Signature Events, known as the Aon Next 10 and the Aon Swing 5, and transitioned the Aon Risk Reward Challenge into “Aon Better Decision Breakdowns” to emphasize the use of real-time data during in-telecast segments to analyze player decisions. In parallel, the firm has continued it successful Aon Risk Reward Challenge program with the LPGA.
“I’ve seen the power of the PGA Tour brand firsthand, as both a fan and a partner, and am truly excited to play a role in growing its global impact at this transformative moment,” Weitz said. “As the organization evolves, it’s critical that we stay focused on fan priorities, aligned with player interests and accountable to partner and investor expectations. I’m looking forward to listening to and learning from all our stakeholders.”
Prior to joining Aon in 2014, Weitz was U.S. President and Chief Executive Officer of Hill+Knowlton Strategies, a leading global strategic communications consultancy in the WPP portfolio. While there, he also served as Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. region and as Vice-Chair of the global Corporate Advisory Practice, which included the financial, internal, corporate communications and public affairs practices of the global firm.
Weitz holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Weitz and his family will relocate to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, this summer, and formally begin his work with the PGA Tour in mid-August.
The PGA Tour thanks its partners at Korn Ferry for the successful completion of this important executive search.
Schauffele understands McIlroy’s pain — to a point.
CROMWELL, Conn. — After winning the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club last month, Xander Schauffele went back to his rented house and positioned the Wanamaker Trophy in a spot where, when he woke up on Monday morning, the massive silver cup was the first thing he’d see. As the cliche goes, “To the winner go the spoils.”
Having won in Kentucky, the 30-year-old Schauffele now knows what it’s like to be a major champion. He already knew what it felt like to come up short on golf’s biggest stages.
With an outstanding all-around game, Schauffele has won an Olympic gold medal, a Tour Championship and eight PGA Tour events, and he has consistently been in the mix in major tournaments. But in 27 career previous attempts before winning at Valhalla, Schaufelle earned 12 top-10 finishes, including a tie for second at the 2018 British Open and the 2019 Masters. The San Diego native is very familiar with what it feels like not to win.
So, after Rory McIlroy experienced a gut-wrenching loss to Bryson DeChambeau on Sunday evening at the U.S. Open, you might think he understands what McIlroy, who withdrew from this week’s Travelers Championship, is going through. And he does — to a point.
“It’s different for everyone. It’s hard for me to compare my losses to his losses,” Schauffele said on Tuesday afternoon at TPC River Highlands. “He’s under a bit more of a microscope. When things are going really well, people are all over him and unfortunately, when things don’t go his way people are all over him. So, there’s a microscope on him, on why he didn’t win and things of that nature, he’s going to have to answer those questions at some point. And he will, because he always does.”
Xander Schauffele of the United States putts on the third green during a practice round prior to the U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort on June 11, 2024 in Pinehurst, North Carolina. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
A Sunday 68 moved Schauffele into a tie for seventh on Sunday evening at Pinehurst, and after he signed his card, he went back to his rented house and watched the tournament’s finish alongside his brother.
“It was pretty wild,” Schauffele said. “As a fan, I’m sure it was a very exciting, and for me it was just a crazy finish, for sure.”
McIlroy did not talk with the media after losing on Sunday night. He walked out of the clubhouse with his caddie, Harry Diamond, and his agents, and once his bags were in his car, he quickly drove off. He was criticized for doing so, but listening to Schauffele talk about what Rory must have been feeling at the time, you get the sense that he understands.
“As a competitor, all of us have had our highs and lows to a certain degree. It’s a tough spot. It for sure is a tough spot,” said Schauffele. “I’m sure he and his team are discussing what happened, and sometimes you just need to step away from it all and really try and be as objective as possible because you’re very much in the moment there. It obviously didn’t go his way, and he’s just … he needs some time away to figure out what’s going on.”
What is going on for Xander is the continuation of a stretch of high-profile golf. He’s here at TPC River Highlands, where he won the Travelers Championship in 2022, to play in the final Signature Even of the season, and he has the Scottish Open, British Open and the Paris Olympics in August looming before the start of the PGA Tour Playoffs and the Presidents Cup in September.
He could win one or more of those events because his game is so solid and winning breeds confidence, but Schauffele might come up short. It’s a risk that anyone who competes has to take, and having experience with losing doesn’t take away the sting.
“I wear ’em pretty hard, but sometimes it’s nice to just get back on the horse and compete,” Schauffele said. “Like I said, everyone handles those situations differently, and it’s those times where you just lean on your team, and everyone around you that supports you that whole time, to give you that confidence to get back on the horse and keep chugging along.”
Little John is making his professional debut this week.
John Daly II, the son of John Daly, will tee it up this week on the Korn Ferry Tour at the Compliance Solutions Championship at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in Norman, Oklahoma. It will be his first start on the Korn Ferry Tour and his first professional event.
A rising junior at Arkansas, Daly II received a sponsor exemption into the event. In eight events last season, he had a 71.78 stroke average and two top-10 finishes.
Daly II is no stranger to the public eye, as he has made appearances (including a win in 2021) at the PNC Championship in Orlando alongside his dad at the season-ending scramble event. The duo also has runner-up finishes in 2018 and 2022.
Short misses leave Rory McIlroy dangling over career precipice.
When his final par putt of the U.S. Open made a cruel right turn on Sunday evening, a stroke propelled by a decade of fear and fate, Rory McIlroy doomed himself to a destiny that should burn far more than merely losing another major championship.
In the annals of golf history, there are two names that can now be linked together as the most talented players of their generation who underachieved in the sport’s most important events.
One is McIlroy. The other is Greg Norman.
If you don’t understand why that matters, rewind back two years when McIlroy won the Canadian Open while LIV Golf was making its initial push to secure the game’s best players with a bottomless pit of Saudi money.
Greg Norman of Australia collapses to the ground after narrowly missing a chip shot on the 15th green during the final round of the 1996 Masters, where he lost a huge lead and Nick Faldo claimed the title. (Stephen Munday/ALLSPORT)
McIlroy was the poster boy for PGA Tour loyalty. Norman was the face of LIV. The tension between them was not just about business but had clearly become personal.
“This is a day I’ll remember for a long, long time – 21st PGA Tour win, one more than someone else,” McIlroy said on CBS that afternoon. “That gave a little more extra incentive today and I’m happy to get it done.”
The “someone else,” of course, was Norman: Winner of 20 PGA Tour titles and two British Opens but whose legacy is inexorably linked to losing majors in brutal fashion, most notably the 1996 Masters when he blew a six-shot lead beginning the final round.
The nasty, behind-the-scenes business of golf brought them into conflict. The even nastier on-course bungles under the heat of major championship pressure have brought them into the same breath of history.
He’s just 35, has shown no signs of slippage in the nuts-and-bolts of his game, and contends at almost every major. By the numbers, he still has 40 chances or so to add to a tally that seemed limitless when he won his fourth at age 25.
But the scar tissue that has accumulated over the last decade is real. Sunday was the evidence playing out in real time for millions of golf fans to see.
Over the last several years, McIlroy has had so many chances and near-misses that his failure to close the deal was definitely a thing. But none of them seemed quite like classic choke jobs. Maybe a bad Thursday or Friday put him too far behind. Or the putter went cold on the weekend. Or someone else just went out and played the round of their life on Sunday.
None of that happened this time.
For most of the final round, McIlroy did everything he needed to do for a second U.S. Open trophy. He drove the ball almost perfectly. He started pouring in putts from distance. Walking off the 14th hole, he had a two-shot lead over DeChambeau, who was all over the place with his driver and trying to hang onto pars like a wet bar of soap.
Pinehurst is an unforgiving track with danger lurking around every corner. But at that point, it was finally up to McIlroy to end his 10-year major drought. He didn’t have to chase anyone, didn’t have to worry about getting nipped from behind by an improbable birdie streak.
All he had to do was not give it away. Instead, he did the following:
No. 15: Picked way too much club on the par-3, cooking it over the green to a terrible spot and making bogey.
No. 16: Landed his approach in a great spot about 27 feet away, but three-putting with a lip-out from 2 ½ feet.
No. 17: Scrambled for par from the left bunker after a poor shot into another par-3.
No. 18: Made one of his worst driver swings of the week, caught a terrible lie in the native grass, hacked out short of the green and chipped it past the hole for a difficult 3 foot, 9 inch putt but one he should have made anyway.
It is, without question, the biggest debacle of his career. It’s his 1996 Masters. It’s his magnum opus choke.
Rory McIlroy reacts after a missed putt on the eighteenth green during the final round of the U.S. Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Over the last year, McIlroy’s stance on the PGA Tour getting into business with the Saudis has softened as his idealism ran headlong into reality. Now, he needs to get comfortable with the idea that unless he can figure out a way to break this major-less streak, he and Norman will come up in the same sentences far more often than he should be comfortable with.
They are both considered the best of their generation with a driver in their hands.
They are both so consistently good that they could win a lot and contend in any tournament on any kind of course.
They both have a big hole in their résumé at Augusta National.
And now, it’s undeniable: At a similar stage of their careers, they did not fulfill their potential when it mattered most.
Norman won a couple more tournaments after the 1996 Masters, but he was never the same force within the game after that collapse. By simple virtue of his physical talent and age, it seems unlikely McIlroy will suffer the same fate. It would be shocking if he didn’t truly contend at several more majors.
But the only conclusion you can draw from watching McIlroy take a machete to his chances Sunday is that the demons are real. And over the next several years, he will either go down the Norman path and be remembered as a guy who should have won a whole lot more or the Phil Mickelson path and knock off a couple legacy-boosting majors when he wasn’t expected to.
Mickelson, too, gave away more than his share of chances – especially at the U.S. Open, which he never won. But with the British Open he won at age 43 and the out-of-nowhere PGA Championship he pulled off in 2021, nobody puts Mickelson in the Norman category. With six majors, he is simply the second-best player of his era and one of the best ever.
But the interesting thing about Mickelson is that he didn’t win his first until he was 33, just slightly younger than McIlroy is now. McIlroy kind of did it in reverse, collecting the big wins when he was too young to even feel the pressure of time and responsibility to the game.
And now, when he reaches for that magic and needs it the most, it just doesn’t seem to be there.
Sunday should have been a day for McIlroy to get on the Mickelson trajectory, end the major drought and move the conversation toward how many he will rack up before it’s all said and done. Instead, he left Pinehurst just like Norman left Augusta 28 years ago with more questions than ever about when – or if – it’ll ever happen again.
