NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — For the past decade or so, the three most entertaining venues in golf have been Augusta National, the Old Course at St. Andrews, and Rory McIlroy’s head. Spend a little time inside any of them, and you could feel the game’s history and ride its ups and downs. That is why this week’s PGA Championship is so interesting for McIlroy: Whatever the weather at Aronimink, the (metaphorical) wind is blowing in the right direction.
The second half of his career began this year, and McIlroy is well-positioned to win any major he enters. He is as talented and skilled as anybody in the world, and he has found the sweet spot between freedom and focus.
McIlroy has already won two PGA Championships, in 2012 and 2014, and this has always been the major he is most suited to win. Scores tend to be low, and while the trophy is the heaviest, the weight of history is the lightest. But on Tuesday, McIlroy said something revealing, as he usually does:
“Honestly, since the tournament has moved to May, my results haven't been that great here at the PGA,” McIlroy said.
The PGA moved from August to May in 2019. As any golf historian can tell you, May is the month after April, and April, of course, is when the Masters is played.
Until McIlroy finally won the Masters in 2025, it was such a preoccupying obsession for McIlroy that when he arrived at the PGA a month later, he still had shrapnel in his bag. Since the PGA moved to May, McIlroy held one lead after a full round of play. That came in 2022—which, not coincidentally, is the only year when he left Augusta National with anything resembling good vibes. He shot a final-round 64 at that year’s Masters, including a bunker hole-out on the final hole.
Last year, McIlroy’s PGA focus disintegrated for the best possible reason: He finally won the Masters. He proceeded to take a long and hard-earned victory lap, then needed another lap or two to remember where the starting line was.
This year is different. He won the Masters again, but he did it clinically, and he said afterward that the joy would not linger as long this time.
The May date is now an advantage for McIlroy. As he said Tuesday, “I feel like it's a very tight window between the Masters and this tournament,” but he can do more within that window than almost anybody else.
McIlroy’s playing schedule this year may help him at Aronimink
McIlroy is one of the few players who can really build his entire season around the four majors. He doesn’t have to worry about qualifying for any of them. He doesn’t have to worry about paying his bills. He doesn’t really have to worry about securing a spot in the FedEx Cup playoffs. He has won PGA Tour events with such regularity—30 times in his career—that he rarely has to think about a victory drought.
In 2024, McIlroy played 39 competitive rounds before the PGA Championship. This year he has played just 22. Of the top 100 players in PGA Tour scoring average, only 45-year-old Brandt Snedeker has played less than McIlroy, and that is because Snedeker began the year without full-time status. McIlroy considered playing one more tournament, but decided against it after attending a state dinner at the White House instead. Even if he had played, he would still only be at 26 rounds for the year. Scottie Scheffler has played 36. Cam Young has played 40.
Playing fewer rounds is not necessarily the formula for success; that varies by player. But those 22 rounds say a lot about McIlroy.
He is an extraordinarily consistent player: McIlroy broke into the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking in 2009 and has remained there ever since. He has spent 734 of the last 787 weeks in the top 10. So he doesn’t really have to worry nearly as much as most players about his game being sharp, because it almost always is. He can focus on making sure his mind is sharp when he wants it to be.
McIlroy is no longer chasing regular PGA Tour wins or overselling their importance. His season reads more like a golfer’s fantasy itinerary than a PGA Tour schedule: Pebble Beach; Riviera; as many rounds at Augusta National as the club would allow; Sawgrass; and a personal favorite, Quail Hollow. He flew up to Aronimink for a practice round two weeks ago and was back home in Florida that night.
After McIlroy won the 2024 Masters, his mildly competitive few months seemed distinctly Rory. But all of the game’s great players have entered a major or two when they were distracted, content, or otherwise unfocused. From 1997 to 2008, Tiger Woods missed one cut at a major: the 2006 U.S. Open, the first major after his father, Earl, passed away. A month after Woods won the 2019 Masters, he arrived at Bethpage Black with no real chance to win the PGA. He was drained, his body was beaten up and it was cold.
The best players need to schedule their way into the right mindset, especially as they get older. McIlroy will surely make adjustments over time. Right now, he appears to be exactly where he wants to be for competitive round No. 23.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Stars Are Aligned Again for Rory McIlroy at the PGA Championship.
