Rory McIlroy’s 17-year pursuit of a Masters title was often compared to Captain Ahab’s obsession with Moby Dick. The metaphor always felt ominous: Ahab’s quest ends with him tangled in his own harpoon line, dragged to the depths by the very whale he hunted.
McIlroy’s story, mercifully, ended much better.
On a spring Sunday at Augusta National, Scottie Scheffler helped slip a green jacket over McIlroy’s shoulders, completing not just a long-awaited Masters victory, but the career Grand Slam. Relief, joy and history all arrived at once.
And then came something unexpected: a void.
McIlroy admitted that after spending so many years fixated on Augusta — on that week, that tournament — he hadn’t given much thought to what would come next if he finally won. When asked at the U.S. Open in June about his five-year plan, he sounded uncharacteristically adrift.
“I don’t have one,” McIlroy said. “I have no idea. I’m sort of just taking it tournament by tournament at this point.”
That uncertainty showed up in his results. In his two starts before the U.S. Open, McIlroy missed the cut at the Canadian Open and finished T47 at the PGA Championship. His demeanor raised alarms, particularly for former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley.
“It was very worrying,” McGinley said on Golf Channel. “His eyes weren’t alive. The energy was not there. It looks like something has gone out of him since the Grand Slam. This is not normal Rory.”
McGinley was right about one thing: a reset was coming.
It arrived in the second half of the season, when McIlroy reeled off six top-10 finishes, won the Irish Open and collected 3.5 points at the Ryder Cup. More importantly, his sense of purpose returned. McIlroy began talking openly about legacy — about majors, Ryder Cups and moments that endure.
This week in Dubai, he put shape to that future by naming three goals he still wants to accomplish before his career winds down.
Goal No. 1: Win an Olympic medal
Few ambitions reflect McIlroy’s evolution more clearly. When golf returned to the Olympics in 2016, he skipped the Games and said he wouldn’t even watch. By Tokyo in 2021, that attitude had flipped entirely. After losing a seven-man playoff for bronze, McIlroy admitted, “I never tried so hard in my life to finish third.”
The bug bit again in Paris in 2024, where he finished just two shots off the podium. Next comes Los Angeles in 2028, with Riviera hosting — a course McIlroy loves, even if he’s never won there. He’ll be nearly 40, deeply motivated, and well aware that Olympic chances don’t come often.
Goal No. 2: Win an Open Championship at St. Andrews
For McIlroy, St. Andrews remains unfinished business. He has played the Old Course only twice at The Open — finishing third both times — and missed the 2015 championship with an ankle injury. In 2022, he watched Cameron Smith pull away on Sunday, one of the most painful near-misses of his career.
With the Open scheduled to return to St. Andrews in 2027, McIlroy likely has three more realistic shots before time and odds begin to turn against him.
Goal No. 3: Win a U.S. Open at an “old, traditional” venue
McIlroy already owns a U.S. Open trophy — his 2011 runaway at Congressional — but that’s not quite what he means here. When he talks about “old” and “traditional,” he’s pointing to the sport’s cathedral venues: Shinnecock, Pebble Beach, Winged Foot, Merion.
The schedule works in his favor. Over the next decade, he’ll see multiple U.S. Opens at Pebble and Shinnecock, plus chances at Winged Foot, Merion, Oakmont and more. Opportunities won’t be scarce — only time will be.
And that’s the point.
“I would have told you two years ago, if I won the Masters, I could have retired,” McIlroy said. “But when you keep doing things, the goal posts keep moving.”
For Rory McIlroy, the whale has been slain. The chase, it turns out, is just beginning again.
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