Rory McIlroy is gearing up for his 17th start at the Masters Tournament and for the 11th straight year, eying the career grand slam.
He has had a great start to his 2025 season, winning at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and, more recently, The PLAYERS Championship.
McIlroy hinted at some elbow discomfort after his T5 at the Texas Children’s Houston Open. Ahead of the first major, though, it seems he is healthy.
“Elbow is good. Elbow is good. I got a little bit of treatment on it last week, and it’s all good,” McIlroy said Tuesday ahead of the Masters.
It seems to be full steam ahead as he looks to end his major championship drought.
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McIlroy often gets a lot of attention heading into Augusta National. Every year, fans and golf media members ask if it is Rory’s time to finally get it done.
The Northern Irishman has not won a major championship since 2014 at Valhalla Golf Club for the PGA Championship.
With his start to this season, the speculation on whether he will get that grand slam this year seems to be at an all-time high.
“It’s just narratives. It’s noise,” McIlroy noted. “It’s just trying to block out that noise as much as possible. I need to treat this tournament like all the other tournaments that I play throughout the year.”
“Look, I understand the narrative and the noise, and there’s a lot of anticipation and buildup coming into this tournament every year, but I have to keep my head down and focus on my job.”
The noise may be loud, but McIlroy seems extremely focused. He had never won twice before this tournament until this year. Whether or not that will lead him to a victory and a green jacket is unsure, but there is a lot of good surrounding McIlroy right now.
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