Rory McIlroy conquers Pebble Beach, earns 27th PGA Tour victory

Rory McIlroy began the final round of the 2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in a tie for second, just one shot behind the previous week’s winner, Sepp Straka. After a ho-hum front 9 (1-under 35), McIlroy opened his back 9 with a birdie on the difficult 10th hole and then followed that up with another birdie on the par-3 12th hole.

The contenders were hot on McIlroy’s heels until the 35-year-old reached the par-5 14th hole. There, just as he had all week, McIlroy aligned himself to the right, seemingly aimed directly into a stand of tall cypress trees, before unleashing a rocket that sailed easily over the trees and landed safely in the middle of the fairway. From there, he hoisted a 7 iron into the stratosphere, landing it softly on the green just 26-feet away for eagle. As the eagle putt dropped into the hole for a three, you could almost feel the collective exhale of the challengers – it was not to be this time. McIlroy had produced that vintage McIlroy magic and put enough distance between him and the rest of the field to enjoy a stress-free walk up the stunning 18th fairway.

After his round, the four-time major champion from Northern Ireland said of his strategy navigating the course “…certainly feels a little more boring to me.” A strange way to describe your 27th victory on the PGA Tour, indeed. But perhaps boring is in style, thanks in part to World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, whose consistency and methodic way of plodding his way around the course could come across as “boring.” If that’s the case, then McIlroy may be boring’s number-one new fan.

Rory McIlroy spoke about the mental side of the game

“It might look a little bit more boring on the golf course, but it’s definitely more effective,” he said. “That’s something that I’m consciously trying to do a little bit better of a job at, and today was a good test and I was able to come through it pretty well.”

The win at Pebble Beach is only McIlroy’s second victory in the state of California (the first being the 2015 WGC-Cadillac Match Play at TPC Harding Park). His notorious, early-season struggles on the West Coast perhaps alleviated, at least for the time being, McIlroy should find himself freed up after securing a PGA Tour victory this early in the season.

After a stop at Torrey Pines in two weeks for the relocated Genesis Invitational, McIlroy will play a familiar stretch of golf in his adopted home state of Florida, including the Arnold Palmer Invitational and THE PLAYERS Championship, both of which he's won.

McIlroy will then be looking to ride that momentum and his early-season success down Magnolia Lane where he’ll seek to become just the sixth golfer in history to complete the career Grand Slam, joining the likes of Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan, and Gene Sarazen.

Perhaps McIlroy has finally stumbled upon the secret to success at Augusta for him – ‘boring’ golf.