Rory McIlroy is surely reaching the point of asking what more he needs to do to win a major tournament again.
That is not even solely the official "Major" tournaments - a category in which McIlroy has not seen a win since 2014. Despite playing consistently well at the vast majority of golf's biggest tournaments over the past three or so years, McIlroy's heartbreaks have regrettably been more numerous than his noteworthy successes.
There is perhaps no season that better summarises that than 2024, in which McIlroy led the US Open with three holes to go and fell short, came within touching distance of an Olympic medal before hitting the water, and agonisingly missed out on victory on the home stretch of the Irish Open in his native County Down.
Even just last week, McIlroy played a stellar weekend of golf at Wentworth, a near-flawless final round, birdied in the playoff against Billy Horschel...and the American duly eagled to deny McIlroy yet another triumph.
Though McIlroy has undeniably been the architect of his own downfall on many occasions over the past few years, there have equally been numerous occasions where one wonders what more he could have done to secure victory.
That is a point that world #1 Scottie Scheffler was keen to drive home at this weekend's Presidents Cup press events.
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Scottie Scheffler puts Rory McIlroy heartbreak into perspective
1 August 2024; Scottie Scheffler of Team USA, right, as Rory McIlroy of Team Ireland passes by during round 1 of the men's golf singles at Le Golf National during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Scottie Scheffler has enjoyed another stellar year in 2024 (bizarre US PGA arrest aside), with victories at the Masters, Players Championship, Tour Championship, and Olympic Games among his seven wins this season.
Even though Rory McIlroy has been in excellent form, winning three tournaments of his own this year, he surely wishes he could taste even some of Scheffler's success in the biggest tournaments.
However, Scheffler offered some well-needed perspective on McIlroy's 2024 when addressing the media at the Presidents Cup in Montreal.
Scheffler said:
I think I played a lot of solid tournaments, and it was nice to get some wins. I've had years in the past on tour where I've played pretty nice and I haven't been able to win a bunch
Sometimes in this game the breaks go your way and sometimes they don't. You know like Rory's had some close calls. He has a playoff last week, and a guy eagles the final hole to beat him, and that's kind of a tough deal.
He didn't lose, he got beat. So that can happen.
Sometimes the breaks fall your way, like Tom Kim and I in the playoff at Travelers. He did birdie 18 to get in the playoff, but then he made a bogey on the playoff hole. Just little things like that sometimes can help.
Well said.
There are mental block issues to be dealt with, and putting and club choice in the final round needs to improve, but Rory McIlroy has shown time and time again over the past three years that his next big win could be just around the corner.
Fans will hope that it is on the horizon in 2025.
