Okay, so this topic, “how often does Rory choke,” kept popping up. You hear it a lot, right? In chats, online, commentary sometimes. It got me curious because I follow golf a bit, and Rory McIlroy is obviously a huge name. I decided I’d spend some time actually digging into it myself, see what I could figure out beyond just hearsay.
My Starting Point
First off, I had to figure out what “choking” even means in this context. It’s a tricky word. For me, I guess I thought about it as messing up badly when you’re in a great position to win, especially late in a big tournament. Like, having a solid lead on Sunday and then just… falling apart.
My initial feeling? Honestly, I kind of bought into the narrative a little. You remember certain moments vividly, don’t you? Certain tournaments stick in your head where it felt like he let one slip away.
How I Looked Into It
So, I started digging. Wasn’t super scientific, mind you, more like me just going through records and my own memory banks.
- Major Tournaments: I focused mostly on the majors. The Masters, PGA Championship, US Open, The Open. Those are the ones with the biggest pressure cooker environment. I looked up his final round scores, especially in years where he was near the lead going into Sunday.
- Recalling Specific Events: The big one everyone points to is the 2011 Masters. I remembered watching that meltdown. Had a four-shot lead going into Sunday and shot an 80. Yeah, that definitely fits the “choke” definition for most people, including me. That was rough to watch.
- Looking for Patterns: I tried to see if there was a clear pattern. Did he often play poorly on Sundays when in contention? I went through results year by year for the majors since he turned pro.
- Considering the Wins Too: But then, I forced myself to look at the other side. He has won four majors. And he didn’t exactly limp over the finish line in those. I recall his 2011 US Open win right after that Masters disaster – he crushed it. Won by eight shots. Then the 2012 PGA Championship, another dominant win. And the two majors in 2014. You don’t win majors like that if you always choke under pressure.
- More Recent Years: Lately, it feels different. He often puts himself in contention, seems to be right there, but then doesn’t quite get it done on Sunday. Is that choking? Or is it just really hard to win majors, and other guys are playing incredibly well? I looked at final rounds like at St. Andrews in 2022, or the US Open in 2023. He didn’t collapse horribly, but he didn’t make the putts or shots needed right at the end. It felt more like stalling than collapsing, if that makes sense.
What I Think Now
After spending some time actually looking back through things, my view shifted a bit. Does he have moments that look like choking? Absolutely. That 2011 Masters is impossible to ignore. There have been other Sundays, especially more recently in majors, where he hasn’t performed his best when near the lead.
However, calling him someone who often chokes feels like an oversimplification. It ignores his dominant major wins. It ignores the immense pressure these guys are under. It ignores how incredibly difficult it is to win against the best players in the world. Lots of great players have let leads slip in majors.
My personal takeaway is that the label gets thrown around too easily. He’s had some very visible, painful final-round struggles in massive tournaments. Those stick in people’s minds. But he’s also closed the door emphatically to win his majors. Maybe the issue lately isn’t so much “choking” in the classic sense of a total collapse, but more an inability to find that extra gear or make those crucial putts right at the death on Sunday in majors, while other players are doing just that.
So, yeah. It’s complicated. He’s human. He’s had some shockers, but he’s also had some amazing wins under pressure. The narrative is probably stronger than the reality, at least that’s how it seems after I spent some time looking into it myself.
