PGA Championship 2025: Unburdened, free-swinging Rory McIlroy eyes consecutive majors at course he's dominated

For 10 years, Rory McIlroy dreaded the questions that followed him around at every major championship. McIlroy went winless across 39 major starts after going back-to-back at the conclusion of the 2014 season. In at least 30 of those opportunities, he faced some form of the same question: What will it take for you to finally win again? 

McIlroy offered a variety of answers, often introspective and honest about the pressure he felt at majors, but as the years passed, he understandably grew exhausted trying to explain the unexplainable.

There wasn't anything wrong physically with his game. That was evident by his performances at other events over the years. It was entirely a mental issue, and despite his best efforts, he couldn't figure out what exactly he needed to do -- much less explain that process to those on the outside lookin in. 

And then finally, in April, he finally broke through at the place that haunted him the most. McIlroy didn't just snap a decade-long major drought, but completed the career grand slam at the Masters. In one fell swoop, he shed all the weight he'd carried on his shoulders for 10 years, collapsing in tears on the 18th green at Augusta National as he finally freed himself from that decade-long burden. 

After his triumphant Masters win, McIlroy opened his press conference by quipping, "What are we going to talk about next year?" The answer, 11 months from now, will be winning a second straight green jacket (only four players have achieved that previously). At Quail Hollow this week, it's about whether he can win consecutive majors, the second at a course he has dominated thorughout his career.

If Augusta National was Rory's personal house of horrors, Quail Hollow Club is his safe haven. McIlroy has won four times at the Charlotte club, and even as the course has seen renovations and moved tees back, they've only shifted the advantage further into Rory's hands. 

Prior to the start of the season, the 2025 PGA Championship was the major everyone circled as McIlroy's best chance to end his drought. That hasn't changed now that he's gotten off the schneid. McIlroy enters the week as the 5-1 co-favorite alongside Scottie Scheffler at BetMGM, and the swagger that was Rory's calling card as a younger golfer seems to be back. 

Just take his response to being asked whether softer conditions favored him as a long hitter. 

"Yes and no. I think, early in my career, that these conditions favored me more. I believe that they favored me more," he said. "But I believe that Pinehurst last year favored me. I believe that firm conditions favor me. I believe that, any conditions that we play in, I have the abilities and I have the skill set to excel."

McIlroy spent a decade having a crisis of self-belief and confidence in majors. Despite usually saying the right things, it was evident given what he did on the course that his words did not have complete conviction behind them. Now, he's gotten the affirmation that he's craved, captured his white whale and can simply enjoy the hunt every week. 

We haven't seen a player win back-to-back majors in a decade when Jordan Spieth opened 2015 with wins at the Masters and U.S. Open, a year after McIlroy won the Open and PGA in succession. Ironically, Spieth now has a chance to complete a career grand slam at a second straight major, again following in McIlroy's footsteps.

This week represents a legitimate opportunity for Rory to double up. That's not to say McIlroy won't face stiff competition -- Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau, among others, arrive in great form -- but Quail Hollow is a place he's dominated. Being able to transverse it with the PGA Championship on the line just one month after the Masters win stripped away the mental scar tissue that built up over the last decade presents an incredible opportunity.

Beyond removing the burden from Rory's shoulders, the win provided him with clarity on what he wants and needs to do going forward. For so long, winning the Masters and completing the career grand slam consumed him. It was, as he put it, his North Star. 

The pursuit created undue internal stress and pressure that he struggled to overcome. the his eventual triumph at Augusta National was littered with near disasters, and he needed 73 holes to finally grab hold of that green jacket. 

Now that he's freed himself from that quest that, for a long time, seemed Sisyphean, he doesn't plan on finding a new boulder to push up hill. 

"I think everyone saw how hard having a North Star is and being able to get over the line," McIlroy said. "I've always said I'm never going to put a number on it. I've talked about trying to become the best European ever or the best international player ever or whatever that is. But again, that's not -- the numbers tell one story, but it might not be the full story.

"I feel like I sort of burdened myself with the career grand slam stuff, and I want to enjoy this. I want to enjoy what I've achieved, and I want to enjoy the last decade or whatever of my career, and I don't want to burden myself by numbers or statistics. I just want to go and try to play the best golf I can."

While McIlroy was joking when asking what the topic of conversation would be now the's completed the career grand slam, the truth is that some questions remain even as the subjects have changed. The career grand slam spotlight now shifts to Spieth. The player needing to bounce back from the most recent major Sunday heartache is DeChambeau. Scheffler is looking to fill out his major collection as his green jackets don't have any much company on the top shelf of his trophy room (other than an Olympic gold medal, of course).

As McIlroy can attest, it doesn't take long for the pressure to build when you're at the top of the game but not piling up majors.  

Meanwhile, Rory now gets to play major championship golf without the weight of those expectations  for the first time since 2014, back when his hair was longer and less gray. No one, not even McIlroy, knows exactly what that could produce. 

He shrugged off an inquiry into how he may feel different this week, noting he's the "same person" he was before the Masters. He later admitted that he's now free rolling when it comes to career accomplishments. 

"Look, I have achieved everything that I've wanted -- I've done everything I've wanted to do in the game," McIlroy said. "I dreamed as a child of becoming the best player in the world and winning all the majors. I've done that. Everything beyond this, for however long I decide to play the game competitively, is a bonus."

And so, we have a free-swinging Rory McIlroy playing this week at a course he's dominated throughout his career. Will he maintain that feeling and not allow himself to get consumed with chasing history once again?

A triumph on Sunday would bring a different question to the forefront: Is a traditional grand slam in play?