At 35 years old, Rory McIlroy has somehow got even better

Gavin Cooney

BUT NO, SERIOUSLY, this might just be Rory’s year at Augusta. 

Okay, the Masters – and, indeed, any major at the moment – is ultimately a mental battle for McIlroy, and he will only be able to prove he can meet that challenge on the day.

Previewing his Augusta prospects therefore needs the above disclaimer before moving onto his form and the shape of his game. Here lies the good news. Today’s epilogue play-off win against JJ Spaun at the Players Championship shows things are looking very healthy indeed. 

Let’s apply the caveats.

McIlroy won this morning but had chances to win it in regulation yesterday, but played the final five holes in one-over to leave the door open for Spaun, who was another two revolutions of a golf ball from draining a putt to win on 18 last night. There’s also the sad sight of the LIV-diluted of the field at a truly great event, while two of the Tour’s remaining heavyweight contenders – Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele – are still toiling off the back of off-season injuries. 

But don’t let all of this cold realism shatter whatever warm, Rory-at-Augusta thoughts to which you’re still clinging after all these years. 

Any win at tournament this big is significant, of course. But where this victory would have been instantly transformative for JJ Spaun, we are parsing it for clues as to what it might mean for the few potentially transformative wins left in McIlroy’s career.

“By no means did I have my best stuff this week, but I was still able to win one of the biggest tournaments in the world,” said McIlroy after his victory. “That’s a huge thing.”

It’s a huge thing in the context of Major Season. McIlroy won at Sawgrass despite the fact he struggled off the tee by his own standards, and could rely on the parts of his game with which he struggled going into the Masters last year. 

He was a shot off the lead after his first round on Thursday, having found more birdies than fairways. McIlroy’s superpower is his driver, and yet he pushed himself into contention at Sawgrass having ranked 108th in strokes gained off the tee. That improved over the week, but still he ranked 29th off the tee across the full week. By contrast, McIlroy ranked ninth in putting and third in approach play. 

Take a step back and consider the transformation. A year ago, McIlroy was humming off the tee and more than solid on the greens, but crumbling in between. 

At Bay Hill last year, immediately prior t0 last year’s Players, McIlroy led the field in driving stats for the third-straight week. He ranked second-last in approach play, however, and lamented the issues with his wedges and short irons, struggling with what he called a “left miss.”

He bolted to Butch Harmon for some emergency surgery before the Masters, who worked with him to take some of the height off his wedges. The lessons didn’t sink in quickly enough, and McIlroy’s challenge was ended on the 11th hole on Friday, when he threw a wedge high in the air and watched the wind carry it left into the water. 

A year on, though, McIlroy has flipped everything on its head.

The key shot in beating Spaun at Sawgrass was his nine-iron to the island 17th green. McIlroy’s killing the ball dead on the green through the brutal whips of the wind was a clinic of distance and spin control. Spaun, meanwhile, flew the green and went plunk with an eight iron he struck so well that he spoke with a perverse pride of it after it was all over. 

“It was a great shot,” said Spaun. “It was probably six, seven feet left of the pin, just perfect if it was the right distance. I couldn’t believe it was long. It just wasn’t my luck of the gust, I guess.”

Spaun had the quality to hit a great shot; McIlroy had the range to hit the right shot.

That range has raised McIlroy’s floor to abnormally high levels. Consider his record across his last 25 starts: five victories and three times a runner-up; along with 14 top fives and 22 top 25s. That’s Scheffleresque consistency in the world’s most volatile game. 

At 35, McIlroy has got even better. 

He will play once more before Augusta, and he can’t do a whole lot more to prepare in advance of the drive up Magnolia Lane. His issue, of course, will come down to what he does once the competition begins, and the scar tissue means that to win, he will have to do more on the course than anyone else. 

Let’s see how he’s ready for the mental battle. Because on this form, it’s the only challenge left to him.