Rory McIlroy out to win year's career Grand Slam chase at Masters

In the 2018 Career Slam Derby, Rory McIlroy is at the plate first in the quest for golf immortality.

“I got the first chance, I got the first opportunity,” McIlroy said of his latest shot to become only the sixth golfer in history to win all four Grand Slam titles. “It would be nice to do it. I mean, it’s not that you’re thinking about it all the time, but there’s three guys that have the chance to do it this year. It’s bragging rights.”

McIlroy will try for the fourth time to add a green jacket to his U.S. Open trophy, claret jug and pair of Wanamaker trophies.

On deck in June is Phil Mickelson at Shinnecock, where he collected one of his record six runner-up finishes in the U.S. Open. In August at Bellerive, Jordan Spieth will get his second crack at finishing off his slam at the PGA Championship.

It’s the first time since 1986 that three golfers younger than 50 have chances to polish off career slams at three different majors. The biggest difference to this current crop is that Lee Trevino (Masters), Raymond Floyd (British Open) and Tom Watson (PGA) were all past their primes by that point. Only five players have ever finished the career Grand Slam – Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods – while eight others finished their careers stranded on third base.

“That’s almost like the Holy Grail in our sport to win all four at least once,” said Ernie Els, who has managed only two legs among his four major wins.

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Spieth (24) and McIlroy (28), in particular, haven’t even reached their primes as they seek the most exclusive club in golf. Mickelson, who will turn 48 on the Saturday of the U.S. Open, is far closer to running out of at-bats.

Mickelson, however, is playing some of the best golf of his career and snapped a nearly five-year victory drought at the WGC-Mexico five weeks ago.

“At this point with the way that Phil is playing and obviously the firepower that myself and Rory have, I think it’s just kind of a crapshoot on who can get it first,” Spieth said. “Obviously it’s going to be hardest for me from right now given they have an opportunity before I do.”

Said McIlroy of Mickelson: “He’s been trending in the right direction. More people are talking about him going into this stage of the season because it seemed like he was flying under the radar a little bit, so all that great golf that he played culminated in a win (in Mexico).”

Mickelson doesn’t seem to mind if his younger slam seekers get most of the attention these days.

“I would prefer to go under the radar, too,” said Mickelson, who hasn’t finished better than 28th in his three chances to complete the slam since his 2013 British Open win at Muirfield. “It’s a lot easier that way. But when I go under the radar, it usually is because of poor play, and that sucks. So there’s kind of a give and take. The fact that I’ve been playing well leads to some excitement on my half, on my part for this week and down the road at Shinnecock.”

McIlroy bolstered his résumé heading into the Masters with a roaring charge to victory at Bay Hill three weeks ago. He’s not shying away from the spotlight, though he believes he’s better in his 10th Masters start at handling any added pressure than he was in his previous three attempts at finishing the slam.

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He’s finished in the top 10 at Augusta four consecutive years.

“You have to embrace and relish the opportunity that is put in front of you and go out and grab it,” he said. “I’m an avid fan of the history of the game, and I know a win here and what that would mean and where that would put me in history alongside some of the greatest that have ever played this game. And that would be mean an awful lot to me.

“But I have to try and clear my head of that come Thursday morning and go out and play good golf, hit good golf shots, have good course management, hole putts. If you do that enough times, hopefully that score on Sunday evening’s the lowest out of all 87 or 88 competitors that are here and you walk away with something that you’ll have for the rest of your life.”

With Tiger Woods’ return sucking up much of the oxygen this week, McIlroy’s quest isn’t the central focus of the media. But it shouldn’t get short shrift.

“I really think that if Rory wins this tournament that’s going to be up there in the top 5 all-time Masters stories,” said Jim Nantz, CBS’s voice of the Masters. “Only five men have won the career Grand Slam. The only one who completed the career Grand Slam at Augusta was Sarazen in 1935. Unfortunately, all those tournament videos on YouTube don’t go back to 1935. The idea that you would be coming down the stretch to win a green jacket and we would be watching a career Grand Slam completed at Augusta National – now that may not be as big as the story if Tiger comes back and wins, that would trump all. But if that’s No. 1, this is 1-A and it could happen.”

Two-time U.S. Open winner Curtis Strange agrees with Nantz.

“Rory has the ability to lap the field, OK,” Strange said. “Only other person to do that is Tiger Woods. He has another gear when he hits it. He’s playing well. He’s motivated. This completes the Grand Slam. Now, somebody could say that could put pressure on him. Yes, it could, but I think it’s maybe been long enough, the last three or four years that he’s over that a little bit. He knows everything he does is another huge notch on his gun belt. I sense that he’s in a really good place now.”

Momentum and the benefit of time are no guarantees in the slam game. Arnold Palmer was at his peak in 1961 when he left Birkdale with the claret jug, but he never won the Wanamaker Trophy in 23 more appearances at the PGA, finishing runner-up three times. Sam Snead was in the prime of his long career in 1949 after his Masters victory to get his first crack at the career slam two months later at the U.S. Open. He finished runner-up for the third of four times in his national championship as the U.S. Open trophy became his white whale.

McIlroy is primed to make history, but two of the biggest impediments this week are the other two Masters specialists lined up behind him in the career slam batting order who have Augusta at the forefront of their goals as well.

“Well, certainly the U.S. Open is always on my mind, but it’s not something I’ll think about until after the Masters,” Mickelson said.

Then there’s the rest of an elite field saturated at the top to contend with if McIlroy ever starts daydreaming about the slam.

“I mean golf is really healthy at this point – the three of us looking for the slam, Tiger coming back, Justin Thomas playing so well, DJ being the No. 1 player in the world, Jon Rahm,” McIlroy said. “It’s good. I’m glad to be in the conversation.”

Masters Record - McIlroy

Masters Record - Spieth

Masters Record - Mickelson