Rory McIlroy: Fourteen years of ecstasy and agony until full victory as 'wilderness' years over
Rory McIlroy stormed to victory in the US Open at the age of 22 in 2011.
He was not only one of the youngest ever winners of that title, but one the youngest victors in any of the four major golf tournaments – the US Open, the US PGA, the Master’s and The Open.
Rory’s initial promise suffered a setback that year when he had a devastating meltdown at Augusta, going from a lead of three shots in the final round to disaster. He ended up shooting an atrocious eight over par in those last 18 years, and fell far down the leaderboard.
The next year, however, Rory had a crucial psychological recovery to win his second major title, the 2012 US PGA.
Two years after that, 2014. he showed his brilliance by picking up another two major victories – he won the US PGA again, a month after he had won The Open at Royal Liverpool, just across the Irish Sea from Northern Ireland.
But the decade that followed was one of frustration. The major victories dried up, and he had four meltdowns or near misses in four of them: The Open 2022, and then US Open 2023 and last year.