Rory McIlroy has been breaking records ever since emerging on the amateur scene as a precocious 16-year-old from Northern Ireland.
One of the most successful European players of all time, McIlroy’s accomplishments across his career are almost too much to list. He's won pretty much everything there is to win in the game, aside from The Masters just yet, and he's been a record setter in many different ways.
Here are some of the most incredible records broken by McIlroy through the years:
Rory McIlroy Records
2005: 61
This is when the world started to take notice. At the 2005 North of Ireland Championship, a 16-year-old Rory McIlroy set a new competitive course record at Royal Portrush with a stunning 61.
He made one eagle and nine birdies to beat the previous record of 64. With the tournament running parallel to the The 134th Open Championship at St Andrews, news quickly travelled and became, as McIlroy calls it himself, “a defining moment … because the wider golf world took notice.”
2007: European Tour card
Shortly after turning professional in 2007, McIlroy became the youngest player to earn a European Tour card from tournament play after finishing third at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. It was only the second tournament of his professional career, meaning he also earned his card in the shortest time ever.
2010: 63 at St Andrews
McIlroy flew out of the blocks at the 2010 Open, shooting the championship's lowest ever first round and equalling the lowest ever round in Major history. That record was matched in 2016 by Phil Mickelson at Royal Troon.
His 63 took him top of the leaderboard but he fell well back on day two, carding an 80 in high winds. He made the cut, though, and bounced back over the weekend to finish T3.
2010: Quail Hollow
McIlroy claimed his first PGA Tour victory at the 2010 Quail Hollow Championship in record-breaking fashion. He became the youngest winner in the tournament's history at the age of 20 years, 11 months and 28 days, and also earned the event's lowest ever 36-hole total with his 16-under 128 on the weekend.
2011: US Open records
Speaking of defining moments, McIlroy broke several records on his way to an historic US Open victory in 2011, his first Major title of his career.
Aside from beating second-place finisher Jason Day by a whopping eight strokes, McIlroy most notably broke the US Open 72-hole aggregate score with his 16-under 268, beating the previous record of 272 held jointly by Jack Nicklaus, Lee Janzen, Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk.
McIlroy also became the quickest player in US Open history to reach double digits under par, reaching 10-under in 26 holes.
Notable records Rory McIlroy set or matched at the 2011 US Open:
- Lowest US Open total score: 268
- Most strokes under par: -16 (Brooks Koepka matched, 2017)
- Most strokes under par at any point: -17
- Lowest score for first 54 holes: 199
- Largest 36-hole lead: 6 (tied Tiger Woods, 2000)
2011: €10m
This year was also the start of McIlroy’s record-breaking earnings as a golf professional. At the age of 22, he became the youngest man to earn €10million in career earnings on the European Tour.
2012: 8-stroke PGA win
McIlroy's second Major triumph at Kiawah Island in the PGA Championship was a record breaking one. He stormed to victory by eight strokes to break the championship's largest winning margin record, eclipsing Jack Nicklaus' seven-shot win in 1980.
2012: $10m
After breaking through the €10m mark in Europe, McIlroy then became the youngest player in history to break through the $10m mark on the PGA Tour.
He won four times on the PGA Tour in 2012, including the PGA Championship.
2014: A European Major record
After his third Major triumph at the 2014 Open, McIlroy incredibly became the first European in history to win three different Majors.
By this point, he'd won the US Open, PGA Championship and The Open - surely it was just a matter of time before he'd slip on a Green Jacket, right?
With his Open victory, he also became the third man in history to win three Majors before the age of 25, after Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.
2019: Top 10
In 2019, McIlroy beat Tiger Woods’ record to become the youngest player to spend 500 weeks inside the top 10 of the world golf rankings. McIlroy, who was 30 years, six months and eight days old, beat Woods by about four months.
2021: Policy board
Off the course, McIlroy started to take on more of a leadership role among his peers and in shaping the future of the sport. In 2021, he became the first player from outside of the United States to serve on the PGA Tour policy board.
Amid the game's civil war between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf in 2022, McIlroy became an outspoken advocate for the PGA Tour. In November 2023, however, he resigned from the board, citing personal and professional commitments.
2022: 3 FedEx Cups
McIlroy overcame a six-stroke deficit on the final day to claw past Scottie Scheffler and become the only man in the FedEx Cup's modest history to win it three times.
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy were the only two-time winners before McIlroy won number three.
2022: $28.3m
After breaking the record for most money earned in a single PGA Tour season in 2019, McIlroy broke his own record again in 2022 thanks to his victory at the lucrative Tour Championship. He bettered his previous record of US$24.3million with $28.3m in 2022.
2023: UK and Ireland Opens
The Northern Irishman became the first golfer in history to win The Open, Irish Open and Scottish Open when he lifted the Scottish Open trophy at the Renaissance Club.
That added to his 2014 Open crown and his 2016 Irish Open win.
2023: 326.3 yards
Even at 34 years old, McIlroy proved he could swing it with the best as he broke the PGA Tour record for driving distance.
His average of 326.3 yards for the 2022/23 season beat Bryson DeChambeau’s previous best of 323.7 yards in the 2020/21 season.
