Arguably, the feel-good golf moment of 2025 came at The Masters when, in a play-off against Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy completed his dream and secured an historic Career Grand Slam.
Falling to his knees to earn a first Green Jacket after a number of close calls, the relief and weight was off the shoulders of the 36-year-old, as McIlroy became just the sixth player in history to complete the impressive feat of winning all four Majors.
Following on from that victory, there was, understandably, a lull period, but McIlroy still went on to win an away Ryder Cup, an Irish Open title and a seventh Race to Dubai trophy later in the season.
Going into 2026, there will be targets that McIlroy will set for his year but, according to six-time Major winner, Nick Faldo, the thought of McIlroy pocketing further success at the big four championships within the men's game could be tougher than he thinks.
Speaking to The Belfast Telegraph, Faldo stated: "It is like climbing Everest, you don’t turn around and say ‘let’s go up again next month.’
"There was so much emotion at Augusta, and you cannot reproduce the emotion to win a Major like that again.
"He’s either going to be disappointed that he’s won 10 or he is going to be ecstatic that he’s got to five."
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Following his victory at Augusta National, McIlroy himself claimed at the US Open that he was "trying to find the motivation to go back out there and work as hard as I've been working."
Obviously, McIlroy re-found the motivation, going on to wrap up further successes on the DP World Tour and Ryder Cup.
However, when looking at the Majors in 2025, a certain Scottie Scheffler once again stood out among the rest, claiming a five stroke win at the PGA Championship and a four shot victory at The Open Championship.
In the same interview, Faldo alluded to this, even comparing Scheffler to 15-time Major winner, Tiger Woods.
"Scottie seems to be very clear-headed right now. He’s in that wonderful moment where he trusts his game 100 percent.
"It’s like Tiger was. Scottie’s in that lovely mindset and routine of going to every tournament thinking, ‘How do I find a way to win this?’ Whereas other guys are just trying to get to Sunday.
"Some guys are choking on Thursday, but Scottie is choke-free at the moment, which is amazing."
