Another major championship has come and gone, and Rory McIlroy’s drought continues.
Although this is frustrating for the No. 2 ranked player in the world, and it will now take at least a decade between major championship wins, McIlroy is trying to keep things in perspective.
“In the last couple of years, would I have loved picking one of those that I finished up there? Absolutely,” McIlroy said after arriving in T6 at the British Open on Sunday. “But every time I do it or most of the time I do it, I’m here.
McIlroy’s last major championship victory was in 2014, when he won both the British Open and the PGA Championship. Coincidentally, this was also the last time the British Open was played at Royal Liverpool.
Since then, McIlroy has accomplished just about everything possible in the world of golf. He’s won 15 times on the PGA Tour, has won the No. 1 spot in the world multiple times, and he’s won the FedExCup three times, including last season when he also won the DP World Tour season title. McIlroy also became the face of the PGA Tour in its battle against LIV Golf, although the two leagues have since agreed to some sort of merger.
McIlroy, however, doesn’t look like he could secure another major title even though he is in the midst of another very impressive season. He won last week at the Genesis Scottish Open, and he’s finished in the top 10 now at three of the four major championships this year. He hasn’t finished outside the top 10 in his last seven starts, and McIlroy narrowly fell to Wyndham Clark at the US Open last month in Los Angeles.
“When I finally win that next major, it’ll be really, really nice,” he said in June at the Los Angeles Country Club. “I would spend 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship.”
Although he had a solid week – McIlroy’s worst round was a tied performance on Thursday – he didn’t have much luck in Hoylake, England. Brian Harman ran away with the tournament on Friday, taking a huge five-shot lead that he held on to a rainy finish on Sunday. Harman came in at 13 under on the week, earning him a six-stroke victory in what was his first major title. McIlroy was seven shots back tied for sixth with Emiliano Grillo.
“Improved my score every day,” McIlroy said. “I missed a few putts yesterday, felt like I rolled a little bit better today. It was just tough. I needed to get out there and shoot something 63, 64, but it was really tough to do it in those conditions. I got off to a really good start, but it’s just hard to keep going, as you can see in the leaderboard, nobody really goes that low.
As his drought continues to spread, McIlroy insists he’s not tracking or counting the days to Augusta National.
His goal now, he said, is simply to defend his FedExCup title. It’s the only thing he can do.
“I don’t think that way. I think trying to win a fourth FedExCup here in a few weeks, trying to win a fifth Race to Dubai, winning a fifth Ryder Cup,” McIlroy said. “I keep looking forward.”