Rory McIlroy's 25th PGA Tour win is by far his least impressive
Rory McIlroy.
Rory McIlroy just won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans to reach 25 career PGA Tour victories and jump Gary Player and Dustin Johnson on the all-time wins list, but hardly anyone cares.
As you may know, the Zurich Classic is a team event in which duos compete in alternating formats of fourball and foursomes. It’s not a premier event on the PGA Tour schedule — as evidenced by the weak field — and it’s not an arduous tournament to win if both teammates play well. The Zurich Classic is more about having fun with your buddy than anything else, so there isn’t the same pressure associated with signature events and major championships.
No wonder McIlroy played so well.
The McIlroy-Shane Lowry tandem fired an 11-under 61 in the fourball format to begin the tournament. They followed that up with a 2-under 70 in foursomes, an 8-under 64 in fourball and a 4-under 68 in foursomes. The Irish team still needed to take down the powerhouse duo of Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer in a playoff, which they did with an unimpressive par on the par-5 18th hole. Ramey and Trainer, who rank 235th and 395th in the Official World Golf Ranking, respectively, slapped the ball all over the 18th hole and limped to a bogey.
A win is a win, sure, but it would’ve been humiliating if McIlroy and Lowry hadn’t held on in the final round. The rest of the top-10 finishers included names such as Ryan Brehm (World No. 538), Patrick Fishburn (World No. 331) and Nicolas Echavarria (World No. 293) — not exactly the Scottie Scheffler’s or Jon Rahms of the world.
The victory ended an eight-month winless drought for McIlroy, but it’s hard to file this in the same category as his other 24 PGA Tour wins. This is McIlroy’s first team win in his PGA Tour career and his first victory on U.S. soil since the 2022 Tour Championship.
This team win can’t mask the fact that McIlroy hasn’t won a major since the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Course. The good news? The 2024 PGA Championship is coming up next month, and it’s being held at Valhalla for the first time since McIlroy’s triumph 10 years ago.
McIlroy can win all the Zurich Classics he wants; golf fans still won’t be impressed until he finally wins major No. 5.
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