So, I found myself going down a bit of a rabbit hole the other day thinking about Rory McIlroy and his major wins. It wasn’t for any big reason, honestly. I was just tidying up the garage, sorting through some old boxes, and found this golf magazine from years back. Rory was on the cover, looking real young. It got me wondering, exactly how many majors has he actually bagged?

You hear his name constantly, especially when the big tournaments roll around. Seems like he’s always almost there lately, right? Anyway, my memory’s not what it used to be, so I figured I’d actually sit down and properly check the record myself. Didn’t just want to google it and forget two minutes later. I wanted to sort of, mentally tick them off.
My Little Walk Through Rory’s Major History
Okay, so I pulled up his record. Sat there with my cup of tea and went through it year by year. Here’s what I jotted down, the actual wins:
- 2011 U.S. Open: Right, Congressional. That was a big one, pretty dominant performance if I remember right. Sort of announced himself properly on the major stage after that Masters slip-up.
- 2012 PGA Championship: Kiawah Island. Another impressive win, by a big margin too. Seemed like he was really getting into his stride then.
- 2014 The Open Championship: Royal Liverpool. Winning The Open is always special, isn’t it? Especially for a guy from Northern Ireland.
- 2014 PGA Championship: Valhalla. This was the last one. Two majors in one year, pretty amazing stuff. He was really on fire that summer.
So, that’s four. Four majors.
It’s funny, feels like it should be more sometimes, doesn’t it? Maybe because he’s been world number one for ages, won loads of other big tournaments. But the majors… well, it’s been a while since that last one in 2014.
I remember watching that 2014 PGA Championship, actually. We’d just moved into our current house, boxes everywhere, chaos. The telly was one of the first things we set up, naturally. Had it on in the background while unpacking kitchen stuff. Seeing him clinch it in the near-darkness was pretty dramatic. Felt like he was unstoppable back then.

Every year since, especially around April for the Masters, you think, “Is this going to be the year he gets the Grand Slam?” Or wins another one. He comes close so often. It’s kind of become part of the story now, hasn’t it? The wait.
Anyway, that was my little project. Just wanted to get it straight in my own head. Four majors. It’s still a hell of an achievement, more than most could ever dream of. But yeah, definitely feels like there’s an unfinished chapter there. Maybe this year, eh? We’ll see.