When Did Rory McIlroy Last Win A Major?

Rory McIlroy had a dominant spell in Major championships but how long has he had to wait since the last time he lifted one of golf's four biggest prizes?

Rory McIlroy won the PGA Championship in 2014
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Paul Higham
By Paul Higham
published

When Rory McIlroy lifted the PGA Championship's mighty Wanamaker Trophy in 2014, few would have guessed that a decade later he would have failed to add to his four Major titles.

The Northern Irishman was on top of the world and dominating the sport in 2014 - lifting the Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool to add the Open Championship to his previous US Open and PGA Championship triumphs.

McIlroy was unstoppable at this time, and won back-to-back Majors by winning a thrilling PGA Championship in the darkness at Valhalla just three weeks after his Open success.

That made if four Major wins in four years, and four of golf's biggest prizes tucked away in his trophy cabinet aged just 25, with the golfing world at his mercy.

It even prompted the great Jack Nicklaus to say: "Rory has an opportunity to win 15 or 20 majors or whatever he wants to do."

McIlroy now just needed to win the Masters to become just the sixth man to win the career Grand Slam, and it seemed just a matter of when not if that would ever happen.

However, for one reason or another, McIlroy has failed to win another Major since lifting the Wanamaker Trophy in August 2014, with now his wait for a fifth Major stretching to a decade.

And it's not like he hasn't gone close, but he's just not managed to get over the line on more than one occasion since then.

Rory McIlroy holds the Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool

Rory McIlroy holds the Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool in 2014

(Image credit: Getty Images)

McIlroy has an incredible 20 top-10 finishes since his last Major success, including a top 10 in seven of the eight Major championships he played in 2022 and 2023.

He had some of his nearest misses recently, most notably at the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews in 2022, when he looked to have the Claret Jug sewn-up only to be pipped on Sunday by a flying Cam Smith finish.

McIlroy also looked like breaking his drought at the 2023 US Open but just couldn't get anything going on the back nine on Sunday as he lost out to Wyndham Clark by a shot.

And Brian Harman's runaway Open victory denied McIlroy the chance to defend the Claret Jug he won at Hoylake, meaning his Major drought will stretch into a 10th year and counting.

Paul Higham
Paul Higham
Contributor

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website.  Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush. 

Latest