When Rory McIlroy fell to his knees and sobbed last April after sinking the winning putt at The Masters, other than being mesmerized by watching his emotions come flooding out, many wondered if this was the final mountain he would climb. Was this enough for him?
“I think the story, as it relates to me, is what do I do from now onwards? What motivates me? What gets me going? What do I still want to achieve in the game? I think that's the story,” he told members of the media this week at Augusta National.
Previously, he had told everyone that the only things he still wanted to do in golf were to win the Grand Slam, win a Ryder Cup in the U.S., and be the best European golfer ever. Last year, he accomplished at least the first two, and whether he’s the best European golfer ever depends on the measuring stick and who is making the judgment call.
If the measure is Sir Nick Faldo or Seve Ballesteros or Bernhard Langer, then he is certainly a Grand Slam ahead of all of them. But if it’s European victories, he’s still behind, and with a wife and daughter in the U.S., it’s unlikely he will spend that much time playing in Europe. In addition, LIV is attempting to eat the European Tour schedule, taking over a lot of the events that used to be theirs.
Compared to Faldo, he’s behind in majors. Faldo won six, three Masters and three British Opens. Of European players, only Harry Vardon won more majors, with seven. Faldo won 30 European Tour events. Among his other achievements, he’s designed 20 golf courses around the world.
Ballesteros won two Masters and three British Opens. He was an absolute phenom on the DP World Tour, winning 50 events. In Ryder Cup play, he became the heart and soul of the teams, encouraging players to reach deeper than they thought they could. The Ryder Cup successes were responsible for funding of the DP World Tour in those years, and Ballesteros’ contributions to the success of teams can’t be overstated.
Langer, with 42 DP World Tour titles, is ahead of Faldo in those events. He has two majors, the Masters in 1983 and 1995, and his Ryder Cup record is significant. Langer also holds the PGA Tour Champions victory record with 47. He’s tough, never gives up and likes the challenge of playing golf.
To be the best ever in Europe, McIlroy has some very big shoes to fill, but he has gone about it differently than Faldo, Ballesteros, or Langer.
“There's still a lot that I want to do,” he said. “You think every time you achieve something or have success that you'll be happy, but then the goalposts move, and they just keep nudging a little bit further and further out of reach.”
McIlroy already has 29 PGA Tour victories and 20 DP World Tour victories, although some titles, like the majors, count on both tours.
In terms of majors, McIlroy has five, the most recent of which is the 2025 Masters. It’s doubtful it will be his last major title. Will he get to eight? 10? It’s going to depend on how many he wants, really, because he has the talent to get more.
At age 36, he still has time to pile on to his totals on both sides of the Atlantic. The question is, will he take time to smell the roses, as the saying goes? It’s up to McIlroy to decide how much is enough.
Maybe he just wants seven majors to pass Faldo and tie Vardon. Maybe he wants eight to pass them both.
“I think what I've realized is, if you can just really find enjoyment in the journey, that's the big thing because, honestly, I felt like the career Grand Slam was my destination, and I got there, and then I realized it wasn't the destination,” he admitted.
As one retired PGA Tour player said recently, what he missed was the noise. What he couldn’t take was the silence. Being off the tour, with no crowds, no cheering, no clapping, no fans, no attention was a big problem for him. So, even though Tour players often complain about people making requests for their time, when all the requests stop, it’s like their life stops. It can be very difficult to take, adjust to, move on from and figure out what’s next.
Luckily for McIlroy, he doesn’t have to stop being in the public eye unless he wants to. With his record, he can pick and choose what he wants to do, where he wants to go and who he wants to see for the rest of his life. He’ll let us know what’s next for him.