Rory McIlroy: I have three career goals left
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What do you get the golfer who has everything? Turns out even Rory McIlroy still has some itches to scratch
Four major championships. Thirty-six wins on the PGA and European Tours. Five victories from seven Ryder Cup appearances. Top five for most weeks spent at World No.1. And around $200 million in the bank.
Yet Rory McIlroy is still striving for more.
The 35-year-old, in an interview with BBC Sport, laid out the three main goals he has left in an already glittering career.
No prizes for guessing the first.
McIlroy has made no secret of his desire to fill the Green Jacket-shaped hole in his wardrobe, and he knows as much as anyone that he should already have his hands on sport’s most coveted item of clothing. He, of all people, doesn’t need reminding that he started the final round in 2011 four shots clear and finished it 10 back of champion Charl Schwartzel.
Since that dark day in Georgia, McIlroy has tried everything he can to win the Masters – from therapy to self-help books to playing Augusta loads in the build-up to not playing Augusta at all in the build-up. Now the focus, it seems, is about working out where he can improve.
“Augusta is Augusta,” he said. “I’ve gone through my stats and there are a couple of things that were pointed out to me that I could definitely get better at – certain little shots around the greens.”
Much has been made of what will soon be an 11-year major-less run for the Northern Irishman. There have been plenty of close calls to getting over the line for number five – notably at the 150th Open in St Andrews, the 2023 US Open at LAGC, and the same tournament last year when Bryson DeChambeau so dramatically pipped him at Pinehurst.
If his drought is going to end, he won’t have a better chance to do it than this year. The PGA Championship will be played at Quail Hollow, a course on which McIlroy has won four of his 26 PGA Tour titles, before The Open heads back to Royal Portrush, where McIlroy holds the course record of 61.
“I’ve realised that all I can control is myself,” he added. “What’s right for me right now is to fully focus on myself and to get the best out of myself and get back to winning the biggest tournaments in the world.
“I’ve been agonisingly close for the past few years, without being able to get it done and that that is the main focus of this year.
“All of my practice, all of my prep, even the tournaments that I’m playing, it’s all geared towards being ready for those four events.”
His second career goal can also be achieved this year as Luke Donald takes his band of merry men to the New York cauldron that is Bethpage and its infamous Black course.
“You have heard me say this so many times, but one of the greatest achievements in the game right now is to win an away Ryder Cup and we have an opportunity to do that this year,” McIlroy said.
McIlroy was part of the team that won so dramatically at Medinah in 2012, but it’s been misery on the road for Europe since then, with hammerings in 2016 and 2021 at Hazeltine and Whistling Straits respectively.
“I think there’s one thing holding serve at home, which we’ve been able to do quite consistently,” McIlroy added. “It’s a huge task. It’s a very strong American team, a very partisan crowd, but we’ve got a wonderful captain and we’re going to have a wonderful team and we’re relishing the challenge.”
As for his third remaining box to tick off? Originally a sceptic about golf’s long-awaited return to the Olympics, McIlroy skipped the Rio Games in 2016 as the Zika virus swept through Brazil, before agonisingly finishing fourth in Tokyo five years later and fifth in Paris last summer.
But a gold medal is something he wants on his CV – even if he does have to wait a few more years to have another shot at it.
You can listen to the Rory McIlroy’s full interview on the BBC Sport website or BBC Sounds.
About the author
Alex has been in the golf industry since 2007 and has helped shape a number of publications in that time. He joined Today’s Golfer in January 2025 to lead the brand’s news division.
He is a keen golfer who claims to play off 12 and enjoys traveling the world to try new courses. His three favorites are Royal North Devon, the Old Course at St Andrews, and Royal Portrush – with special mentions for Okehampton and Bude & North Cornwall, where he first fell in love with the game.
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Rory McIlroy wants to win the Masters, Olympic gold, and an away Ryder Cup
