I also barely really watched golf. Mostly because I never cared to play it, which is in stark contrast to the other infamous individual sport (tennis). I liked the Tiger Woods story - immeassurably more after his 2009-drama and his various starts and re-starts leading up to the amazing 2019 Masters - which I think is the only other time in the now 16-year history of this blog (Holy Shit!) where I've written about Golf. Well, I am here as well. Rory McIlroy is not Tiger Woods, but he's the closest thing we've had since (even if "close" is doing a whole lot of work), and much like Tiger Woods in 2019, it was magical watching Rory break an 11-year major-less drought at the Masters.
I don't really remember when I first became cognizant of Rory McIlroy, but it was probably when he held the 54- hole lead at the Masters in 2011 at the ripe age of 21. Of course, he memorably shot a terrible 80 to finish way back. It was a bit of fun to watch someone a couple years older than me not reach his dreams (I know, the horror...). Of course, Rory would win US Open two months layer going away, becoming a major winner at 22. He would win the PGA the next year, and go back-to-back at The Open and the PGA in 2014, getting four majors at 25. The world, the next decade should ahve been his.
Then Jordan Spieth happened. Well, to be fair, many things happened. But Jordan Spieth won the Masters and the U.S. Open in 2015 - in other words, the next two majors played - at 22 years old. He would add an Open in 2017, but he now is in his own 8-year drought, and unlike Rory, seemed to very much peak at age 22-24. For McIlroy, these last 10-years of majors (2015 - 2024) were just agonizing close call after close call. His consistency of finshing in the Top-10 is only matched by guys named Woods, Nicklaus or people in teh black-and-white days.
21 times in those 39 majors (4x10 years, minus the cancelled 2020 Open) he finished in the Top-10. Four times finishing 2nd. He got so close time after time. He was a more consistent golfer than basically anyone other than maybe peak Brooks Koepka over that time. He saw a next wave of young guys come in and win multiple majors. Well, finally, at the tournament that eluded him time after time he was back.
Watching Rory's final round was something insane. I always knew he was an innately, brilliantly talented player. But to see his shots on 15, on 17, on 18, on 18 again. Were just mesmerizing. But I guess what made McIlroy so maddening, and so consistently just quite not the guy, is how many bad shots followed those. The missed short putts. Hitting the water on 13. He hit about three different "The shot of McIlroy's Life!" shots in that round (15, 17, the 18th playoff). He only needed the second and third because of messed up putts on 15 (missing teh short Eagle) and 18 (the par to win). The fact he twice had to hit a putt with "For teh Career Slam" on the CBS graphic is so telling.
A quick aside on the Career Slam - I'm shocked how few Golfers have done it before. I made the quip about "Tiger, Nicklaus and players from teh black and white era" earlier, but that's basically what the list of Career Slam winners is. Basically it was only Tiger from say the 1970s with Nicklaus through to the 2020s with McIlroy. Granted, it seems in Golf there's way more guys with between 4-6 majors, making it a bit tougher but its stunning Phil or others (Palmer?) haven;'t done it. Anyway, Rory has, and watching him do it was really cool. Will this get me to watch more Golf? To be honest, probably not, but it was cool all the same.
