Rory McIlroy, You Have Our Attention at the Arnold Palmer Invitational

We saw a glimpse of how easy this game can be for Rory McIlroy at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He drove the snot out of it, controlled his irons in gusty conditions, took advantage of good looks on the greens and poured in his fair share of putts.

The two formers were still in form at the Genesis Invitational, but the Northern Irishman suffered one of the worst putting weekends of his career—and that’s not an exaggeration. On that Saturday alone McIlroy lost nearly four strokes to the field with the flat-stick, his single worst putting round on the PGA TOUR since the 2014 Wells Fargo Championship.

After his dominating performance along the cliffs of the Monterey Peninsula, many labeled 2025 as the Year of Rory McIlroy—myself included. If he wants to make us aspiring soothsayers look good, another win before the Masters would do the job.

Enter the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

McIlroy has loved him some Bay Hill Club and Lodge over the last 10 years of his career, collecting eight top-20 finishes—six of those are top-10s—and a win in 2018. Seven years ago, McIlroy charged up the board with a final-round 64 that included five birdies in his last six holes—as someone who stormed the 18th fairway after his win, the entire day was electric.

In all, it took McIlroy just 100 putts to play 72 holes, one of the best putting displays of his career. Now add six more API starts, six more years of experience at Arnie’s track, and the comfort level McIlroy has on these surfaces is exactly what he needs after the nightmare of a weekend that was Torrey Pines.

Now that nightmare lies with the rest of the field.

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An in-form McIlroy at one of his favorite tracks on the TOUR’s schedule is a dangerous combination for every other player in Orlando for the circuit’s fourth signature event of the season.

But for this to really be the Year of Rory, he doesn’t need to be concerned about any other player aside from the world No. 1 and winner of two of the last three APIs, Mr. Scottie Scheffler.

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The Texan’s historic 2024 campaign started at Bay Hill 12 months ago, and we all know what he went on to do. Another Masters win, an Olympic gold medal, a win at the TOUR Championship—I still think Scheffler’s season doesn’t get talked about enough, it was prime Tiger-esque.

McIlroy wants to be the best player in the world again, back in the No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking, something he’s held for 122 weeks throughout his career. But to do that, he has to take down Scheffler. And to do that, he’s gonna need to put on a clinic all of 2025.

He’s already got a tally in the win column, now it’s time to add another. Maybe a couple wins before the year’s first major is what Rory needs to finally slip on the green jacket.

One can dream.