There is a poignant scene in early Harry Potter, when Harry tricks Lucius into releasing Dobby from servitude. Have a look if you haven’t see it before.
I’ve lost count of the number of people that predicted that Rory McIlroy would enjoy open season at The Masters after his breakthrough win in 2025. So far, all of those seers are swinging 1.000%. What we saw McIlroy do on Sunday was different from what we’ve seen him do on other major Sunday. At St. Adnrews, especially, in 2022, McIlroy was unable to summon the birdies needed over the closing holes. At Los Angeles in 2023 and Pinehurst in 2024, an inability to control the moment stole two more chances at major titles. What is it about Augusta National, that kept so much away, for so long, that appears to have embraced him?
Ironically, it is the knowledge that, of all his chasers on Sunday, only Scottie Scheffler had figured out the source code that scripted a green jacket. Only Scheffler had experience with the human intelligence required to postpone emotions until the proper moment. Even as McIlroy fumbled about the first six holes, his face was never anguished. He understood what so many others never do, never resist long enough to do: Augusta National chooses you. Had Scheffler made one more birdie, or had his “A” game, things might have been different.
It is Augusta National, the Masters, that has finally given Dobby Rory clothes.
Now we move to the next question, the one that surfaces each Monday after the Masters: is there a chance at a grand slam? A generational player like McIlroy certainly stands a better chance than most. He has won all four major titles, and has a brilliant US Open record, outside of the winning part. Aronimink is a unturned hole card. No one has plaed the Philadelphia gem in major competition, although the club did host the BMW Championship in 20218. That PGA Tour playoffs event was won by Captain America, Keegan Bradley, at 20-under par. It’s probable that Aronimink will present as un-Merion as possible, and that no one will sniff minus-twenty. If Rory wins in Libertyville, he’ll have all the momentum and all the pressure, as sites shift to Shinnecok.
In 2018, the US Open was held at Shinneock Hills, and Rory was at the tail end of a three-year, missed-cut run. Beginning in 2019, he ran off six consecutive, top-ten finishes in America’s national open, before missing the cut at Oakmont in 2025. Not a favorite McIlroy course, nor a continuation of the great US Open play of the prior half decade. The odds against arriving at Royal Birkdale in July, with three major titles in tow, are astronomically against the lad from Holywood. McIlroy’s sole Open title came 12 years ago, at Hoyloake (aka Royal Liverpool.) In 2017, the last time that Birkdale hosted an Open, Rory tied for fourth position, behind winner Jordan Spieth. Of the three remaining major venues, Royal Birkdale holds the most promise for the six-time major champion.
There’s the fun in all of this: he has a chance until he no longer does. Pull up a chair, pop some corn, grab a soda, and tune in on May 14th.
