1. Logic. You have to be in it to win it. Only one player can win the calendar grand slam each year, and to be that man you have to win the first. Rory McIlroy met that condition at the Masters, where he also claimed his spot among an elite cohort of six players to have won all four major championships.
To accomplish the calendar slam McIlroy must go where none has been before. Only Tiger Woods has held all four majors consecutively but not in the same year.
His victory at the Masters in 2001 after claiming the US Open, The Open and the PGA Championship in 2000 gave him what became known as the “Tiger Slam”.
Before that the great Ben Hogan came closest with wins at the Masters, US Open and The Open in 1953.
A long time coming. Congratulations, Rory. #themasters pic.twitter.com/f72nOxQbfw
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 13, 2025
2. The course. McIlroy loves this week’s PGA Championship course, Quail Hollow, a track he has conquered four times on the PGA Tour, a record for him.
Indeed, only five golfers have had more success at one place. Woods won an incredible eight times at three sites, Torrey Pines, Bay Hill and Firestone. Jack Nicklaus won six at the Masters, Phil Mickelson and Mark O’Meara five apiece at Pebble Beach, and Davis Love III five at Harbour Town. Woods also won five times at Augusta and Muirfield Village.
McIlroy claimed his maiden PGA Tour win here in 2010 and added the Wells Fargo Championship in 2015 and 2021 and the Truist Championship here last year.
At more than 7,600 yards, Quail is the sixth longest on tour, or as McIlroy calls it, a big boy’s course. McIlroy’s mastery of it is largely down to his prodigious driving. Yes, he’s first in strokes gained off the tee this year.
This is what world No 1 and Thursday’s playing partner Scottie Scheffler said of him: “You look at a guy like Rory, you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody that has driven the ball better than he has in the history of the game. Tiger had a ton of speed, but Rory has the accuracy to set him apart. Not only does he hit it really far, he hits it really straight.”
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3. The weather. It’s been wet in Charlotte this week. And when it rains in the Carolinas in the spring it pours. Rain softens the course, effectively making it longer, placing an even higher premium on length off the tee. And few are longer than Rors.
Because of its length and the conditions, approaches to the green require more shots with long irons. That suits McIlroy, who is not the best with a wedge in his hand, but with mid to longer sticks he leaves the field standing, witness the 5-iron from under a tree to the 15th at Augusta to set up an eagle putt.
McIlroy is particularly proficient on holes 7-10, comprising two par-5s, a par-4 at 500 yds-plus and a driveable par-4, and 15-17, comprising a par-5, a par-4 at 500 yds-plus and a long par-3, measuring more than 200 yards.
4. The shackles are off. The theory goes that McIlroy is somehow a more potent threat now that the Masters curse is over. The 11 years of trying and failing to complete the career grand slam at Augusta was a storyline that weighed heavily.
With his destiny secure there is a sense that McIlroy at 36 can fill out his CV to eclipse Nick Faldo as Europe’s most prolific major winner, and perhaps hit double figures.
In all respects McIlroy appears ever more settled. He is about to relocate back to the UK from Florida. He has stepped back from his political commitments at the PGA Tour to concentrate solely on the game.
This new focus has already brought him three wins this year, and all of them prestigious tournaments at iconic venues, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass and the Masters at Augusta National.
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5. Well, he’s Rory McIlroy, of course. The wins are heroic, the failures epic. McIlroy rarely blends into the background. His final round at the Masters is one of the great denouements in the history of the game, up there with Nicklaus winning his 18th and final major at the 1986 Masters at the age of 46, and Woods claiming his 15th and final major after an 11-year hiatus at Augusta in 2019.
Since none has done it before the evidence suggests the calendar grand slam is just too big a demand. But what is McIlroy if not resilient?
It felt like he lost the green jacket half-a-dozen times on that final Sunday. He began the day with a double bogey, led by four after a birdie at the 10th and was a shot back on the 15th tee.
On the par-5 13th he dunked it in Rae’s Creek after laying up and posted a double, dropped another at the 14th. At the last hole he missed a five-footer for victory and watched Justin Rose hit it close in the play-off, only to get inside him and hole out from four feet. Cue delirium.
After that, what’s a calendar slam?
When are the final two golf majors of the year?
US Open: 12-15 June – Oakmont Country Club, Pennsylvania
The Open: 17–20 July – Royal Portrush, Northern Ireland
6. Providence. McIlroy’s first major came at the US Open at Congressional. He might have had a second at Pinehurst last year had it not been for a brain fade when leading over the closing three holes and a stroke of genius from Bryson DeChambeau out of a bunker.
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If there is such a thing as fate owing a debt then McIlroy is surely due one at the US Open at another eastern seaboard venue made for his length and accuracy.
Oakmont is a fearsome adversary, its 7,400-yard layout made harder by narrow fairways and penal rough so favoured by the US Open. No course has hosted the US Open more, almost demanding a hall-of-famer champion.
7. Home sweet home. And then it’s on to The Open at Royal Portrush in July, a homecoming in Northern Ireland on a course where 20 years ago he set the course record at the North of Ireland Championship aged 16.
“There are not many golf rounds where I remember every shot but for that round, I do,” McIlroy said. “I knew the record was 64. Once I got to nine-under through 16, I thought if I could par the remaining two and set the new record that would be pretty special.
“The 17th at the time was a par-5 and the easiest birdie on the course. That took me to 10-under and I just thought, don’t screw this up. I hit a perfect drive and a good 8-iron into the heart of the green. I just wanted to two-putt but ended up rolling it in. I did not care what the score was, I just wanted the course record.”
One thing is for certain, he won’t repeat the trauma of 2019, when, brim full of emotion, he started the 148th Open at Portrush with an eight. McIlroy fought back bravely to miss the cut only by a single shot. History owes him…
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