Rory McIlroy unique: Grand Slam glory, profitable The Masters and why 2025 was the ‘finest yr’ of his {golfing} profession | Golf Information

Rory McIlroy has admitted he feared he could by no means win The Masters earlier than he accomplished the profession Grand Slam through the ‘finest yr’ of his {golfing} profession.

McIlroy grew to become simply the sixth male golfer in historical past and first European to finish the Grand Slam along with his dramatic victory at Augusta Nationwide in April, the place he beat Justin Rose in a play-off to finish an 11-year anticipate his fifth main title.

The world No 2 skilled 21 top-10 majors with out victory between his 2014 PGA Championship success to securing the Inexperienced Jacket, together with six at The Masters, with McIlroy below scrutiny after a number of near-misses in earlier makes an attempt.

McIlroy had did not convert a four-shot lead on the closing day of the 2011 Masters and slipped away on the Sunday of the 2018 contest, having been within the closing group alongside Patrick Reed, earlier than his 2025 victory noticed him turn out to be the primary participant since Tiger Woods to hitch the Grand Slam membership.

“Yeah, I did doubt that second would ever occur,” McIlroy advised Sky Sports activities forward of ‘McIlroy ’25: A Profession Yr’, a brand new documentary launched this month. “I felt like I might had a great deal of probabilities earlier than.

“I ended up profitable The Masters at 35 however I had an opportunity once I was 21. I additionally had an opportunity once I was 28. I’ve had just a few extra probabilities in between, and as your profession goes on, you recognize, you’re feeling like that window is closing.

“Going into that Sunday I might say, ‘might this be my closing likelihood? Might this be the one?’ I believe with the way in which all of it performed out, Bryson within the closing group and simply after Pinehurst in 2024 [US Open], there was lots using on that day.

“So yeah, I had my doubts earlier than that, however I needed to type of put that every one at the back of my thoughts, simply exit and attempt to play a superb spherical of golf, which I do not really feel like I did. I did in components, however I did not in others.”

McIlroy took a two-shot benefit right into a roller-coaster Sunday, the place he briefly moved 4 forward till following a bogey on the eleventh by making a double-bogey on the par-five thirteenth after discovering water.

One other dropped shot on the subsequent was cancelled out by birdies on the fifteenth and seventeenth, earlier than McIlroy cancelled out bogeying the 72nd gap by making a close-range birdie on the primary play-off gap to spark emotional celebrations.

“The response was years of going there and attempting and failing but it surely was additionally all of the years earlier than that, once I would sit down in my household room with my dad in Holywood,” McIlroy defined.

“We might watch The Masters as a boy and a father and simply take into consideration taking part in that match sooner or later. Then swiftly, from taking part in it to attempting to win it, after which to have that second.

“I bear in mind being with Harry [Diamond, caddie] in 2005 when Tiger [Woods] chipped in on 16 in opposition to Chris DiMarco, and we watched that collectively. I’ve that response, I get up, I flip round, and who’s the primary particular person I see? It is Harry.

“The one factor I can take into consideration is simply how fortunate I used to be that it occurred the way in which it did, as a result of I do not suppose there’s loads of different individuals in golf or in that’ll have the second or the sensation that I had on that 18th inexperienced at Augusta that Sunday.”

Why McIlroy’s 2025 means greater than 2014 majors

Masters glory was a part of a exceptional 2025 for McIlroy, who additionally gained the AT&T Pebble Seaside Professional-Am and The Gamers on the PGA Tour earlier than claiming an epic play-off victory on the DP World Tour’s Amgen Irish Open.

The Northern Irishman was a key a part of Europe’s historic Ryder Cup success at Bethpage Black, contributing 3.5 factors throughout their 15-13 away victory over Group USA, two years on from predicting a historic win on American soil throughout their 2023 winner’s press convention.

“I believe I all the time believed it [The Masters and Ryder Cup double] was doable – I would not say it if I did not suppose it was,” McIlroy defined. “You have acquired all these targets and these hopes and these desires, everytime you flip the web page to a brand new calendar yr.

“I felt like I used to be coming off the again of a very good finish to 2024 and felt like I might experience that momentum into the beginning of 2025. I began the yr nice and I acquired confidence early, then I just about simply roped that confidence all over.”

McIlroy ended the marketing campaign by securing the DP World Tour’s season-long Race to Dubai title for a seventh time, with the 36-year-old happy with his 2025 achievements.

“I might perhaps say that I gained extra majors in 2014, however I really feel this yr to me [is best] due to the issues that I felt like I had left to attain in my profession – to have the ability to win The Masters, to win an away Ryder Cup, to win my Nationwide Open,” McIlroy insisted.

“If I am simply searching for large moments, if that is what the remainder of my profession is for the subsequent 10 years, these large moments dotted all through, you possibly can’t get three greater moments than those that I’ve had this yr.

“Due to that, it is the very best yr that I’ve ever had.”

Watch ‘McIlroy ’25: A Profession Yr’, a brand new documentary reflecting on his historic 2025, this Christmas on Sky Sports activities. The present will premiere at 9pm on Tuesday on Sky Sports activities Golf and be repeated all through the festive interval. Get Sky Sports activities or stream with no contract on NOW.