Rory McIlroy changes tune on Olympic Golf, offers stunning admission about legacy

Rory McIlroy will represent the Republic of Ireland at the Olympics this week, hoping to add to his legacy.

Rory McIlroy’s major championship drought has been well-documented over the past few years. He has not claimed a major title since he fended off Phil Mickelson at the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla, leaving a void that will become 11 years old next spring at Augusta National.

Yet, McIlroy has accomplished plenty since that win in Kentucky. He has won 17 times on the PGA Tour, claimed three FedEx Cups, and finished atop the Race to Dubai rankings on four occasions. He also helped Europe win the Ryder Cup in 2014, 2018, and 2023, posting an 8-5-2 record across those three competitions.

But before this week’s Olympic Men’s Golf Tournament in Paris, McIlroy was asked what winning a Gold Medal would mean.

“It would be the achievement of the year,” McIlroy said.

“I think for me, it’s well documented that I haven’t won one of the big four in 10 years. It would probably be one of, if not the biggest [win] in my career for the last ten years.”

McIlroy’s stunning admission is quite the departure from how he viewed the Olympics eight years ago, when golf returned to the quadriennial competition for the first time since 1904.

McIlroy skipped the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. He felt that the Olympics did not fit into the golfing mold, so he decided to pursue other goals at the time. The ZIKA Virus also played a role in his decision. But the Ulsterman has since changed his tune, saying a Gold Medal would rank above all his other individual victories since Valhalla.

“I think as golf is in the Olympics for a longer period of time, it will become more of—I don’t know if anything will be able to sit alongside the majors. We have four events a year that are the gold standard. But I think this is going to be—in time—going to be right up there amongst that,” McIlroy said.

[But] I’ve been asked this question a lot: Where would an Olympic Medal sit in the hierarchy of my career achievements? It’s something I probably won’t be able to answer until after everything is said and done.”

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.