Rory McIlroy’s wait for a Major continues: What’s halting his success on the biggest of stages?
As the elite of the sport in golf headed to Valhalla for another intense battle across the tours to claim the PGA Championship, Rory Mcilroy again failed to get over the line in the latest major tournament so what’s halting him and how far away is he from tasting major glory again?
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00:00 Dan, looking at the PGA Championship, obviously the second major of the year, now big headlines
00:06 going into it. Rory McIlroy himself said the stars were aligning for a major victory. Obviously,
00:12 won the two championships in the build-up to his major win in 2014 and then he did it
00:19 again but he couldn't quite get over the line. How far away do you feel he is to getting
00:24 over the line again in another major and why do you think it's been 10 years and could
00:30 almost be longer? It's hard to say, isn't it, because of course he's a phenomenal golfer,
00:35 he's a phenomenal talent. You just saw at the Ryder Cup, for example, at the end of
00:39 last year just what he can do. And of course, as you say, he won Wells Fargo just a couple
00:44 of weeks ago and then went into this PGA Championship at Valhalla where he won his last major in
00:51 2014 in the same tournament. And to be fair to him, he got a really good few rounds of
00:56 golf, a really low score but wasn't quite enough. Of course, the player in Xander Schöfler
01:03 who he had just beaten and pipped to the post the previous week at Wells Fargo, Schöfler
01:08 was just on top form at Valhalla and couldn't be knocked from his perch there. So it's really
01:14 hard to say with McIlroy because he's got close on a number of occasions, a couple of
01:19 second place finishes at the Masters, for example, in 2022. So you'd like to think that
01:25 it's coming because I think he probably deserves one for all the work and the golf he's put
01:30 in. Obviously, yes, there's been some disappointing finishes in this time as well, but there's
01:35 so many good golfers out there at the moment. As you say, it would have to take the stars
01:40 to align for him to win, I think. And you thought it could be the case this weekend
01:45 at Valhalla in the PGA Championship, but it wasn't to be. There were too many others shooting
01:50 really low scores around the field. So honestly, I don't think it's possible to quite predict.
01:57 I think he's in a good vein of form. I think that's the most key point and I think that
02:02 the way he's going, you can certainly always put him up there as a favourite to win one
02:07 as they approach different tournaments. But again, it's just how the ball falls on the
02:12 day, to be honest. And as good as he's been, others have just been better.
02:18 Yeah, it sort of felt to me like it didn't really get started for him. I think he got
02:23 to a couple under on the first day. He's had a few goals at the Masters now. Everyone who
02:29 asks is convinced he's going to do it at some point. Tiger was asked about it this week.
02:34 Jack Nicklaus was asked about it. No one really thinks that McIlroy will end his career without
02:41 a Masters victory, but it has been 10 years now since his last major championship win
02:46 at Valhalla, actually, at the PGA Championship, where we're going next. So maybe the return
02:52 to some glory can reignite Rory's major career.
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