Is Rory McIlroy Still Pushing Golf Needles? Sky Sports’ Robert Lee looks at the Northern Irishman’s Race to Dubai success, how he compares to the world’s top two and looks at whether a big win is needed to make 2025 a success.
There was a lot going for Rory McIlroy, because for guys like him, winning means everything. You can finish second, third or fourth as many times as you want, but every time you don’t win when you should, you get criticized.
I think he held the wolves with two birdies on the last three holes in Dubai when he needed to do it to win. It was a very important win for McIlroy, and you could see the emotion in his face as he was interviewed, the build-up that came with getting over the line.
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Highlights from the final round of the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai.
For him to tie Seve Ballesteros’ six Medal of Merit, he’ll be very excited about that and I think will set him up very well for a big year. McIlroy will do well to get some rest for himself and his family before 2025 is over.
When you talk about all-time greats in European golf, he’s right up there. When he’s on, he’s like Ben Hogan on steroids, and when he’s off for a bit, he can bounce like his hero Seven.
If everyone is playing their best, I still think McIlroy is the best player in the world. I know Scotty Scheffler has been amazing, but Scheffler doesn’t make me want to watch TV. Xander Schaufele doesn’t make me watch TV.
But that’s the way McIlroy is because you kind of roll with him. You’re up, you’re down, you follow his tracks and often you don’t know where he’ll go.
You’re on the edge of your seat as a viewer with McIlroy and he takes you with him. He can hit shots that almost no one else in the world can hit. McIlroy is the needle and he’s a great golfer, he really is.
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Rory McIlroy’s swing changes helped him produce some fantastic iron shots en route to winning the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
‘Little things’ deny McIlroy’s ‘best season’
McIlroy himself has said that at the US Open, the BMW PGA and the Amgen Irish Open, it was just the little things that kept him from winning more times.
I think he’s happy with his year, but he’ll know he missed two three-foot putts in the last couple of holes at the U.S. Open to Bryson DeChambeau, who had a great up-and-down from that front bunker.
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Sky Sports’ Wayne Riley and Dame Laura Davies analyze Rory McIlroy’s late collapse and runner-up finish at the US Open.
At the BMW PGA Championship I’ll never forget He hit two three-woods on the 17th and holed out for eagle. He was then beaten by Billy Horschelwho hit an incredible putt from the green for eagle in the playoff.
Then the last hole at the Irish Open, he hit a tee shot 350 yards and then put an iron on the front left pin that no one could get close to. Eagle’s ball and layoff went agonizingly down the right wing, beating Rasmus Hodggard there.
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Rory McIlroy came close to winning the Dubai Invitational, the US Open, the Irish Open and the BMW PGA, but he ended up falling short in all four events.
Now, McIlroy might not have won a playoff in Ireland, but those are just minor details. You have no control over golf at the best of times and he could have potentially had his best season of the year.
A major is needed for a successful season in 2025.
Not winning the Masters is one thing, but for McIlroy it’s also a potential career Grand Slam, so it’s a double whammy for him. He’s the only player in the field every year who has that burden, that weight of expectation, because he might be only the sixth career Grand Slam golfer ever.
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Watch a selection of the best and worst shots from Rory McIlroy’s past attempts to win the Masters at Augusta National
He is the only player in the world who goes to Augusta every April and takes it with him. You would think that as one of the best players in the world it would happen to him at some point and I still believe that.
All the cogs will fall into place at some point, he’ll get that Green Jacket. For me that would be the icing on the cake of what has already been a fantastic career, but he’s only 35 and has a lot more left in him.
Look at his game, what’s there, not only can he hit 330 yards plus, but people don’t give him enough credit for his short game. When he gets out of position, he goes up and down an awful lot.
When he putsts well, he putsts a lot better than people think. He really has all the ingredients to go to Augusta and win. I know McIlroy can find the pins, but it’s a defensive golf course where you have to avoid making silly mistakes.
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Rory McIlroy shows off his incredible golf knowledge by trying to name all the Masters winners in his lifetime.
You can easily turn bogeys into double bogeys there, and it’s hard to get those shots back, so McIlroy hasn’t been putting his game wrong for four days around Augusta National. At some point I’m sure it will happen. Why can’t it be in 2025?
A successful 2025 will be a big championship for him. Any of them, absolutely anyone. If that was the Cinderella story at Augusta National, it would be a career-defining one.
Watch Rory McIlroy in action on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour live on Sky Sports Golf. McIlroy will begin his 2025 season at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic from January 16-19. Stream DP World Tour and more via NOW.
