Dec 17 (Reuters) - Rory McIlroy's long-awaited Masters victory in April made him the first golfer in 25 years to join golf's most exclusive club, but Scottie Scheffler's two-major haul in 2025 raised the possibility that the next career Grand Slam winner could be just around the corner.
McIlroy, in his 11th attempt to complete the career Grand Slam, had to endure a topsy-turvy final round at Augusta National where he squandered a four-shot lead but then emerged from a crowded pack and prevailed in a sudden-death
playoff.
After draining a four-foot birdie putt for the win, the Northern Irishman raised his arms before releasing years of pent-up frustration as he dropped to his knees and began to sob, providing one of the lasting images of the year in golf.
"There wasn't much joy in that reaction. It was all relief," McIlroy said after the win. "And then, you know, the joy came pretty soon after that. But that was... a decade-plus of emotion that came out of me there."
By winning the Masters, McIlroy joined Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only men to complete the career Grand Slam of golf's four majors.
That elite group could soon have a new member.
A CUT ABOVE
World number one Scheffler showed why he remains a cut above his peers in 2025 after leading the PGA Tour in wins with six, including convincing major triumphs at the PGA Championship and British Open. He was fourth at the Masters and seventh at the U.S. Open.
Scheffler, who won the Masters in 2022 and 2024, now has three legs of the career Grand Slam and will get his first crack at completing his set of major titles at Shinnecock Hills where the final round of the U.S. Open will be held on the American's 30th birthday.
The dominance displayed by Scheffler, who won the PGA Tour Player of the Year Award for a fourth consecutive year, has drawn comparisons to 15-times major winner Woods. Barring injury, Scheffler will be the betting favourite at every major next year.
"I don't think we thought the golfing world would see someone as dominant as Tiger come through so soon, and here's Scottie sort of taking that throne of dominance," two-time major champion Xander Schauffele said at the British Open.
"You can't even say he's on a run. He's just been killing it for over two years now."
MONSTER PUTT
American J.J. Spaun enjoyed a remarkable resurgence in 2025 as he went from journeyman status to major champion thanks to an improbable walk-off birdie putt from 64 feet to win the U.S. Open by two shots in challenging conditions at treacherous Oakmont.
A late-afternoon storm saturated Oakmont during the final round and caused a 96-minute weather delay but a fearless Spaun, who looked well out of contention after five early bogeys, wielded his trusty putter like a magic wand down the closing stretch for a life-changing win.
"It's definitely like a storybook, fairytale ending, kind of underdog fighting back, not giving up, never quitting," said Spaun. "With the rain and everything and then the putt, I mean, you couldn't write a better story. I'm just so fortunate to be on the receiving end of that."
'HIGHER STANDARD'
New York's Bethpage Black was the site of the game's most prestigious team event but this year golf became a sideshow to an intense atmosphere at a Ryder Cup played amid torrents of verbal abuse and inappropriate behaviour from the home crowd.
McIlroy, a fan favourite most every week on the PGA Tour, was the primary target of the abuse, and after Europe won the Ryder Cup on foreign soil for the first time in 13 years he said "golf should be held to a higher standard than this."
On the course, Europe narrowly avoided the biggest collapse in Ryder Cup history by holding off a Sunday charge from the United States. Tyrrell Hatton, in the penultimate match, secured the outright victory when he earned a half-point from his battle with Collin Morikawa that put Europe at the 14-1/2 points needed to win the Ryder Cup.
GOLF'S CIVIL WAR
TGL, the indoor league co-founded by Woods and McIlroy, held its inaugural season in 2025 and it was the Atlanta Drive team of Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel, Justin Thomas and Lucas Glover that won the title.
The league, meant to be additive to the professional golf calendar, will kick off Season 2 on December 28 with some enhancements, including brand-new hole designs and a larger green.
Early in the year there had been optimism that the PGA Tour and Saudi-funded LIV Golf were close to finalising the framework agreement that was announced in June 2023 but a deal to end golf's civil war no longer seems imminent.
Earlier this month LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil told Reuters he is in regular contact with PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp but they are not in "serious negotiation" at this point.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in TorontoEditing by Christian Radnedge)
