Rory McIlroy's quest for a maiden Masters title this year looking uncertain

Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy would have been in confident mood as the Players’ Championship got underway. Having won the tournament last year, the Northern Irishman may well have fancied his chances, getting off to a steady start with an even 72 in the opening round at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Of course, we all know what has happened since. The PGA made the difficult decision to cancel the event after one day’s play due to the increasing threat of the coronavirus. It’s unclear whether the tournament will still be staged later in the year, but with all events off the table for the time being, it’s difficult to know what the future holds for the rest of the golfing season.

That decision to suspend play means that the Masters has been postponed. It is the one Major championship missing from McIlroy’s CV, and it’s unclear when or even if the Northern Irishman will get the chance to seal a maiden triumph this year. 

McIlroy has had a decent season so far, and won the WGC-HSBC Champions event in China earlier this year, netting a cool $1,745,000 in the process. But his focus would have been on ending his Major drought, having not won any of the big four since he triumphed at the PGA Championship in August 2014. He has come close on a number of occasions, but too often McIlroy has seemed overcome by the pressure to deliver on the biggest stage, where his younger self seemed to flourish.

This was evidenced by his performance at The Open last year at Royal Portrush. Playing on home soil in front of a passionate Northern Irish crowd, McIlroy’s game deserted him in the testing conditions, his supreme talent drifting away on the swirling winds out towards the Atlantic. He failed to make the cut, and was forced to watch Irishman Shane Lowry secure a memorable victory. 

That was the final Major of last season, and McIlroy will no doubt have been champing at the bit to get out and make amends for that failure in the Masters this year, where he is always among the favourites in golf betting odds. Now, with so much uncertainty, it’s difficult to say when he will get the chance to restore his credentials as a Major champion. 

This year’s PGA Championship was scheduled to begin on May 14th at TPC Harding Park, San Francisco, but that is also postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

While it will hurt McIlroy not to have the chance to compete at the Masters, the 30-year-old made it clear that he felt suspending the golf season was the correct decision. 

"It's a scary time, and I think that the PGA Tour have made a step in the right direction and I think we just have to play it by ear and take it day by day," he said. "You look at the trends and you look at everything that's happening across the rest of the world, it's in its infancy here in the United States, and yeah, it's going to get worse before it gets better.”

These are uncertain times in every sport, and golf is no different. For now, the priority among sporting bodies has to be safety and minimising the spread of the virus at all costs. McIlroy will have to wait a little longer for another crack at the Masters, but in many ways that doesn’t feel all that important at the moment.