McIlroy's 2025 - could Portrush top Augusta win?

The only thing that could conceivably top the emotion of Rory McIlroy's Masters triumph would surely be him winning this year's Open Championship on home turf at Royal Portrush

It seems inconceivable that the drama of his career Grand Slam-clinching Masters triumph could be matched but Rory McIlroy still has much golf to play in a 2025 which now seems replete with possibilities for Northern Ireland's sporting hero.

McIlroy plans to be back in action next week in New Orleans when he and close friend Shane Lowry defend their Zurich Classic title, which is an event that does not have world ranking points.

The Northern Ireland man's Augusta victory took a sizeable chunk out of Scottie Scheffler's rankings lead, which was reduced from 4.18 to 2.81 points, but the world number one's advantage is still a healthy one.

The leading duo have detached themselves in the rankings from the world's other top players with Open and US PGA champion Xander Schauffele 3.76 points behind McIlroy in third spot.

With McIlroy skipping this week's RBC Heritage PGA Tour event in South Carolina, Scheffler, who while scarcely contending over the weekend at Augusta still finished only three off the pace in fourth spot, will have the opportunity to extend his rankings advantage.

McIlroy a four-time Quail Hollow winner

Following the Zurich Classic two-man event in New Orleans, McIlroy will only have a three-week wait before the season's second major, the US PGA Championship, which will take place at a Quail Hollow venue where he has already triumphed on four occasions.

And after ending his 11-year major drought amid an extraordinary finale in Georgia, McIlroy will surely be the favourite to quickly add another one in North Carolina.

McIlroy earned his first PGA Tour victory in 2010 when a stunning 10-under-par 62 earned him a four-shot triumph at the Wells Fargo Championship after he had squeezed into the weekend action on the cut mark.

The Northern Ireland man went on to achieve a seven-shot victory at the North Carolina course in 2015 and after winning again at Quail Hollow in 2021, ran away with last year's Wells Fargo Championship as he had five strokes to spare over Schauffele.

Suffice to say, he rather likes the venue and while the course set-up for a major is likely to be tougher, no-one will surely go into the US PGA with more confidence than the now five-time major champion.

Rory McIlroy missed the cut on the last occasion the US Open was played at Oakmont in 2016 but he showed at Augusta that he can turn adversity into triumph

The majors will continue to come thick and fast with the world's best heading to Oakmont for the US Open from 12-15 June.

With the Open Championship looming at Portrush five weeks later, one can only imagine their excitement there would be at the famed Pittsburgh layout if McIlroy was to turn up there having added the US PGA title to his unforgettable Masters triumph.

McIlroy has already shown he has the game to win a US Open with his eight-shot victory at Congressional in 2011 coming only a couple of months after his final-round collapse at the Masters.

When the US Open was last staged at Oakmont in 2016, McIlroy missed the halfway cut by two shots after a closing double bogey as Dustin Johnson went on to clinch his first major, with second and third-round leader Lowry among a trio filling the runners-up shot three off the pace.

The major focus will then switch to McIlroy's home links turf of Royal Portrush as he aims to atone for the missed cut when the Open Championship returned to the county Antrim course after a 68-year gap in 2019.

The sense of expectation surrounding McIlroy was huge six years ago but he dropped a combined seven shots on his first and final holes on day one after putting his opening tee shot out of bounds as he signed for a horrid eight-over-par 79.

In typical fashion, McIlroy, who had just turned 30, battled heroically to make the weekend action in wet conditions but despite his second-round 65, missed the cut by a shot.

It was a stunning reversal for a player who had hit a 61 on the Dunluce links as a 16-year-old during the 2005 North of Ireland Amateur Championship.

If there could possibly be something which might outdo the emotion of Sunday night at Augusta, it would surely be McIlroy lifting the Claret Jug for a second time in front of his adoring home fans.

Ryder Cup in September

Portrush will be the majors done for the year but the season will be far from over with the Ryder Cup taking place at Bethpage Black in New York from 26-28 September as Europe aim for a fifth success on US soil after their previous away triumphs in 1987, 1995, 2004 and 2012.

Miracles, such as the one that the Northern Ireland man helped inspire at Medinah 13 years ago, don't happen very often but even if doesn't manage to add another major to his haul over the coming months, McIlroy will surely head to the Big Apple ready and willing to shoulder European hopes.

The Northern Ireland man could also head into the biennial match having won a fourth PGA Tour Fedex Cup title, after his previous triumphs in 2016, 2019 and 2022.

McIlroy already has a healthy lead in the PGA Tour's standings after his three early-season wins but the play-offs system is contrived to ensure that many players will remain in contention to claim the $25m first prize.

His 2025 campaign will then likely end in the middle of November at the DP World Tour Championship where he clinched his sixth Race to Dubai title last autumn.