PLEASE, GODS, THIS MUST BE THE SUNDAY WHEN RORY MCILROY WINS THE MASTERS
Golf needs a ratings boost, and nothing in the formula will bring more joy than McIlroy winning his first major in 3,899 days — and his first green jacket since 2011 — and finally quieting the torment
Maybe it’s because Tiger Woods is about 50 and can’t unify the PGA Tour and LIV, still stagnant as tariffs throttle President Trump. Or maybe it’s because 18.1 million watched Florida beat Houston and 8.5 million watched Connecticut defeat South Carolina. But the Masters needs a surge. Ratings don’t matter in Augusta, but they should.
Only 9.59 million tuned into the final round last year on CBS, a loss of 20 percent. Jim Nantz says he’ll retire from the booth in 2036, but how about removing his Cougars t-shirt and saying goodbye to friends in 2026? Pimento cheese sandwiches are still inexpensive, and the walk is heavenly. Preferably, I would reintroduce Rory McIlroy to the proceedings.
Welcome to a man who needs a green jacket — a major championship, please — and finally would appease those who’ve gone mad in watching him. Here we thought McIlroy might win a green jacket at 21 in a career that since has seen him snare the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship. But he blew a four-shot lead in 2011 and, in an oddity for the worst of times, hasn’t won a major since 2014. Ever see a player so gifted, who still drives the ball magically, allow 3,899 days to pass without holding a supreme trophy that defines the greatest?
We’ve seen him charge into the top 10 constantly in tournaments. Twenty-one times, in fact, but he has faded each time while Brooks Koepka won five majors, Dustin Johnson won two majors and Xander Schauffele won his two last season. Nothing would bring joy to the screen Sunday if he completed his career Grand Slam. Folks can’t show up for four huge events each year and trot out the same statistic: McIlroy is 0 for 38, the latest pain strangling him at Pinehurst No. 2, where he missed two short putts on three of the final four holes and blew a two-shot lead at last year’s U.S. Open.
The story has become sad and horrendous, especially as McIlroy has encountered marital problems before reconciling with Erica. Last month at The Players Championship, he was heckled during a practice round by University of Texas golfer Luke Potter after he hit a tee shot into the water. Potter yapped something about a crash at the 2011 Masters.
“Can I see your phone?” said McIlroy, removing the device and walking away.
Asked later about the episode, he said, “No, you can’t. Because I don’t want you to.”
At least he won the tournament. He also won at Pebble Beach in February. Is this the year when we notice Scottie Scheffler, the winner in 2024 and 2022, but are focusing on McIlroy to end the howls on Magnolia Lane?
“It’s just narratives. It’s noise,” he said. “It’s just trying to block out that noise as much as possible. I need to treat this tournament like all other tournaments I play throughout the year. Look, I understand the narrative and the noise, and there’s a lot of anticipation and buildup coming into this tournament each and every year. But I just have to keep my head down and focus on my job.”
He is reading another book this week, “The Reckoning” by John Grisham. Will it help?
“Instinctually as human beings, we hold back sometimes because of the fear of getting hurt, whether that’s a conscious decision or subconscious decision. And I think I was doing that on the golf course a little bit for a few years,” McIlroy said. “But I think once you go through that, once you go through those heartbreaks, as I call them, you get to a place where you remember how it feels and you wake up the next day and you’re like, ‘Yeah, life goes on, it’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be.’ ”
Life is great, as he showed in bringing his wife and daughter to Wednesday’s Par 3 Contest at the course. Golf is not great. One grand spin around the course would change that. “I think he drives the ball so long and straight that he has a huge advantage on that golf course,” said Phil Mickelson, an old-timer. “You still have to execute, you still have to hit the shots and that's what he's focused on. I think his ability to compartmentalize all the things that have transpired in the past is a strength of his, so I don't think it'll be an issue, or I don't think that's what's holding him back from winning the Masters."
Fourteen years is forever in golf. McIlroy keeps showing up. He usually plays well. “Look, when you have a long career like I have had, luckily, you sort of just learn to roll with the punches, the good times, the bad times, knowing that if you do the right work and you practice the right way, that those disappointments will turn into good times again pretty soon,” McIlroy said. “I’ve had chances to win some of the biggest golf tournaments in the world and it hasn't quite happened. You have to be willing to get your heart broken. But I feel like I’ve figured it out.”
Golf isn’t bubbling with attention. Much of it went to McIlroy when we looked for a successor to Woods. He didn’t come through.
Is he possibly ready … now?
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.