As Rory McIlroy prepares to go again in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship this week, I would like to revisit a couple of comments I have seen recently to the effect that his disappointments of 2024 – notably the late missed short putts at Pinehurst which cost him the US Open; the squandering of a two-shot lead with four holes to play at the Irish Open, where Rasmus Højgaard enjoyed a bouquet of beautiful breaks; losing the BMW PGA Championship to an eagle on the second playoff hole – mean that the Irishman is the latter-day Greg Norman when it comes to hard-luck stories. I can assure you we are not even talking close shaves.
In 1986, Norman completed the ‘Saturday Slam’: he led all four majors after 54 holes but only came home with one of them. At the Masters he needed a par on Sunday to tie Jack Nicklaus but he bogeyed the 18th. At the US Open, a final round of 75 opened the door for Raymond Floyd. At the USPGA Championship, he led by four shots with eight holes to play before ultimately losing it when Bob Tway holed a bunker shot on the final hole. Greg did win the Open at Turnberry but even that left a tinge of regret. He shot a spectacular second round of 63, equalling the lowest-ever round in a major. But on the 18th he’d had a 25-footer for a 61. He three-putted for the third bogey of his round. It would be another 31 years before 62 would finally be shot in a major championship. I mean, Rory has gone winless in the majors for over 10 years, during which time he has had 21 top-10s, but he has never endured a run like that.
And I haven’t even got on to the playoffs yet. I’m going to do that now. Norman lost an 18-hole playoff to Fuzzy Zoeller at the 1984 US Open. He lost a sudden-death playoff for the 1987 Masters to Larry Mize at the second extra hole, where Mize holed a preposterous chip shot from over 40 yards for the winning birdie. He lost a four-hole playoff for the 1989 Open Championship to Mark Calcavecchia, despite having begun it birdie-birdie – he hit his approach to the final green out-of-bounds from a fairway bunker. He lost the 1993 USPGA Championship to Paul Azinger at the second playoff hole, thus putting him in an exclusive club with Craig Wood as the only player to lose all four majors in a playoff. In Greg’s case, these were under three different formats. Rory has never been in a playoff for a major.
As for that 25-foot eagle putt at Wentworth with which Billy Horschel beat McIlroy the weekend before last, what happened to Norman on the final hole at Bay Hill in 1990 trumps that. Greg seemingly had the title in the bag until Robert Gamez holed out his 7-iron from 175 yards at the last for an eagle and the victory.
So, yes, McIlroy may have a had few bad breaks of late, but Norman’s comparative misfortunes are in a wholly different league. And I don’t mean LIV.
You can follow Robert Green on Twitter @robrtgreen and enjoy his other blog f-factors.com as well as his golf archive on robertgreen-golf.com
