In a sport that has become obsessed with shiny new objects, it is still historical achievement that rings the most true and authentic. Especially when a historical signpost is reached at the conclusion of a week fueled by nothing but beignets and joy.
Rory McIlroy on Sunday in New Orleans joined an exclusive club of golfers after concluding a team event that seemed to infuse him with a tremendous amount of delight. The names in that club are basically a who's who of players that have made their mark on the PGA Tour since World War II.
His victory alongside Shane Lowry at the 2024 Zurich Classic bumped McIlroy into the group of a now-dozen golfers who have won at least 25 times on the PGA Tour with at least four major championships to their name.
You know most of them by a single name.
| Golfer | PGA Tour Wins | Major Championships |
|---|---|---|
Tiger Woods | 82 | 15 |
Sam Snead | 82 | 7 |
Jack Nicklaus | 73 | 18 |
Ben Hogan | 64 | 9 |
Arnold Palmer | 62 | 7 |
Byron Nelson | 52 | 5 |
Walter Hagen | 45 | 11 |
Phil Mickelson | 45 | 6 |
Tom Watson | 39 | 8 |
Gene Sarazen | 38 | 7 |
Lee Trevino | 29 | 6 |
| Rory McIlroy | 25 | 4 |
This club is based on an arbitrary set of figures, of course, but it nevertheless helps push into focus that McIlroy is one of the best golfers in the history of the PGA Tour.
That would have been true had he and Lowry lost to Martin Trainer & Chad Ramey in their playoff at TPC Louisiana, but the numbers look nice, and this group of golfers -- as a contingent -- is unassailable.
McIlroy was awesome all week. He is often at his best when playing for something bigger than himself; the PGA Tour's honor and a Ryder Cup trophy come to mind. He also seems to thrive in team environments.
His relationship with longtime buddy Lowry was the primary focus as they hit up all the great New Orleans eateries and seemed to enjoy playing 72 (or 73) holes together as much as they enjoyed actually winning the tournament. This is the type of environment in which the No. 2 player in the world -- who often carried the team -- thrives.
"The reason that Shane and I both started to play golf is because we thought it was fun at some stage in our life,"said McIlroy, who was reminiscing on their friendship, which extends beyond the beginning of both of their professional careers. "I think sort of re-injecting a little bit of that fun back into it in a week like this week, it can always help."
The fun feeds the hunger, and the circle is contagious.
"But I think also to play the sort of golf we did coming down the stretch when there was a little bit of pressure, I think that'll stand to us, also," he added. "But yeah, I've always felt like I play my best golf when I'm enjoying myself, and hard to not enjoy yourself when you're out there walking the fairways with Shane."
The enjoyment continued in the aftermath of the win as McIlroy sang a karaoke rendition of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" at a party marking a week that began with a boozy post-Ryder Cup lunch in which they decided to play this team event together. And then they went and won it.
This is not a drill. Rory McIlroy singing Don't Stop Believing pic.twitter.com/y5PkEDoqo4
— Brody Miller (@BrodyAMiller) April 28, 2024
Whether McIlroy can bottle that joy and use it to fuel his play for the rest of 2024 could greatly affect the future clubs he joins. This 25-4 club is special, no doubt, but it starts to get less crowded as players continue up that ladder.
Up next? There's the 30-5 club and the 40-6 club. Those rooms are sparse.
- 30 PGA Tour wins, five majors (10): Woods, Snead, Nicklaus, Hogan, Palmer, Nelson, Hagen, Mickelson, Watson, Sarazen
- 40 PGA Tour wins, six majors (7): Woods, Snead, Nicklaus, Hogan, Palmer, Hagen, Mickelson
McIlroy will turn 35 years old in a few weeks, and he wins about two PGA Tour events per year. Give him between five and eight more prime years, and it's not unreasonable to believe he can reach something close to 40 PGA Tour victories. The more pressing matter, of course, is the majors; he has not claimed one since 2014, though he's had 10 top-five finishes in that span.
The PGA Championship returns to Valahalla in three weeks, which is incidentally the site of McIlroy's last major in August 2014. A decade is a long time, but McIlroy has arguably played the best golf of his career over the last two years.
While that has not continued at the start of 2024, perhaps coming out of a win in which he was able to get out of his own head will fuel him over the latter two-thirds of the season.
That's the hope for somebody who, even if he never wins again on the PGA Tour, will go down as one of the best to ever do it.
"Hopefully, we can both kick on now," Lowry said. "We've got three majors left. Hopefully, we can get one each or maybe two and one.
"That would be nice," McIlroy said.
"That's the plan for the rest of the summer," Lowry added.
