Rory McIlroy ‘optimistic’ as major drought extends to another year

It was a trademark scene at The Open Championship on Sunday, with Rory McIlroy moving near the top of the leaderboard at Royal Liverpool Golf Club and heightening the questions that grow with each passing year: Will this be the day that ends his major championship drought?

McIlroy trailed 54-hole leader Brian Harman by nine strokes heading into the final round, very much a longshot, but he knew his capability in producing a Sunday charge – think back to his final-round 64 to finish second at last year’s Masters. And after three straight birdies on Nos. 3-5, coupled with two early bogeys by Harman, the realm began to take shape.

Could it happen for McIlroy, world No. 2, who won The Open in its most recent stop at Royal Liverpool in 2014? (The crowd, for its part, was doing its best to manifest it.)

But it was not meant to be, as McIlroy cooled off with an even-par back nine, signing for a final-round 68 and a 6-under 278 total. A strong performance by most measures, but for McIlroy, one couldn’t help but wonder if he’d depart Royal Liverpool with an ever-growing sense of angst. A quest unfulfilled.

For his part, McIlroy fielded questions afterward and provided a positive spin. Another week on the front page of a major leaderboard, which bodes well for the upcoming FedExCup Playoffs and Ryder Cup. Keep putting himself in position on a major Sunday, and eventually one will go his way.

“I needed to go out and shoot something 63-, 64-ish, but really hard to do that in those conditions,” McIlroy said after his final round. “I got off to a really good start, but it’s just hard to keep that going. Overall solid performance, not spectacular, but a lot of optimism going into the rest of the year.”

It’s his seventh top-10 finish in his last eight major championships, his 20th top-10 in a major without a win since the beginning of 2015 – following his fourth major title at the 2014 PGA Championship. Per Justin Ray of Twenty First Group, no player had previously produced a nine-season span with 20 top-10s and no major titles since the first Masters in 1934.

And so it goes. McIlroy follows a T7 at the PGA Championship and a runner-up at the U.S. Open with another solid week at a major, but another week without a trophy. It doesn’t quite yield the sting of last year’s third-place finish at St. Andrews, where he made 16 pars on Sunday and finished two shy of Cameron Smith, or of last month at Los Angeles Country Club, where he came up one short of Wyndham Clark.

It means more questions as to when the drought will end. McIlroy has won 15 TOUR events since his last major, including as recently as last week at the Genesis Scottish Open, and his Hall of Fame credentials are unquestioned. But as for that fifth major title, the thing he perhaps craves most professionally? The wait will extend into another holiday season.

“Over the last two years would I have loved to have picked one of those (majors) off that I finished up there? Absolutely,” McIlroy said. “But every time I tee it up or most times I tee it up, I'm right there. I can't sit here and be too frustrated. My game is in a – you think about my performances in the majors between like 2016 and 2019, it's a lot better than that.

“Again, I'm optimistic about the future, and just got to keep plugging away.”