Will this finally be Rory’s year at the Masters?

It’s been 10 long years since Rory McIlroy won a major championship.

For one of the most talented players in the game, that’s an almost unbelievable stretch. He’s won 19 other PGA Tour events during the major drought, including two Players Championships, three Tour Championships, and a couple of RBC Canadian Opens.

He has come close to adding to his major total, such as at last year’s U.S. Open when he stumbled down the final holes and finished second to Bryson DeChambeau. He has also been a disaster, such as when he bombed out at the 2019 Open Championship held at Royal Portrush in his home country, shooting 80 in the first round and missing the cut.

But, along with the PGA Championship, McIlroy has won those majors before. The major he has yet to capture is the one many feel best suits his game: the Masters. As well as ending the long dry spell, it would also complete his Career Grand Slam, putting him into an exclusive club that’s comprised of just five golfers: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods.

McIlroy is not alone in missing one piece of the major championship puzzle. There are 12 golfers who are one victory short of the Grand Slam, some of whom will never have a chance to get the missing ink. Phil Mickelson finished second in the U.S. Open six times, but that was as close as he got. Arnold Palmer had a similar affliction, finishing second in three PGA Championships, while Lee Trevino failed to slip on the green jacket. The only current players with a chance to grab all four titles are Jordan Spieth, who needs a PGA, and McIlroy.

McIlroy has made 10 attempts to get a green jacket since his win at the 2014 PGA Championship. He’s finished inside the top 10 on six occasions but was never a genuine threat to win, backdooring many of those seemingly close finishes.

This year, he arrives at Augusta National playing as well as he ever has, and arguably better than any other golfer in the game. He has two victories on U.S. soil, marking the first time he’s done that before the Masters.

The wins came against deep fields – first at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a signature event, and then at the Players Championship, over what is arguably the best field in golf. Even after that victory, McIlroy wasn’t satisfied with his game.

“It was great to get a win a couple weeks ago, but I still feel I could have played a lot better,” he stated, not long after holding off J.J. Spaun in a three-hole playoff. “I tried to poke holes in a lot of my game last week and think about things I could do better, and there were definitely things that I could work on or do better.”

One area where McIlroy could improve in his hunt for a Masters title is right at the start. In the 16 times he’s played the event, he’s broken 70 just twice in the opening round. His average position on the leaderboard after the first 18 holes is 28th. Compare that to his final-round scores, where he has only been over par four times, and it’s easy to see that he doesn’t lack a finishing kick. It’s just that he often starts Sundays too far back in the pack.

While opening with a low round would be beneficial, the 35-year-old is also aware that forcing anything around Augusta National is rarely good for the scorecard.

“With a 72-hole golf tournament, you can be patient, you can be disciplined, and you can stick to your gameplan,” McIlroy stated. “And that's something that I've really tried to learn at this tournament over the years.”

An avenue to lowering his scores at Augusta National is on the greens. McIlroy has averaged 29.25 putts per round over his career, well above what the winners used. For example, Scottie Scheffler averaged 27.25 putts in winning last year and just slightly higher than that, 27.5, for his title in 2022.

McIlroy’s putting has improved notably this season. He sits 10th in Strokes Gained: Putting, up from 59th in 2024, and his putter was a key asset in his two victories. He used it just 109 times to capture the Players and only 108 at Pebble Beach.

Leaving no stone unturned in his preparation, McIlroy went on a scouting mission to Augusta National just prior to the Texas Children’s Houston Open last month. It allowed him to see the course without the crush of fans during what is always a busy Masters week.

“I use those trips just to refamiliarize myself with the place, clubs off tees, looking to see if they changed any greens,” he said. “There's four greens (one, eight, 15 and 16) that are new this year, that they've redone,” he said. “You have a look at those and see if there's any new hole positions they give you, stuff like that.

"Apart from that, honestly for me, it's nice to play a practice round without people around and it sort of takes the pressure off the start of the week for me. There's a lot of obligations; there's big commitments whether it be from media or the Par 3 Tournament on Wednesday. I just like to get up there and feel like I'm not rushed Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday the week of the tournament and that's usually the reason I go there."

Attempt No. 11 at a Grand Slam could be McIlroy’s best chance at finally winning. That’s been said before many of the previous attempts too, but this year does somehow feel that, maybe, finally, McIlroy will finally end up wearing a green jacket on Sunday evening.