AUGUSTA, Ga. – Inside the Latrobe, Pennsylvania, home office of Arnold Palmer – a museum-like testament to one of the game’s most compelling and complete careers – was a letter from former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The Commander in Chief was paying off a bet, complete with a crisp $20 bill, that he’d made with Palmer that the seven-time major winner would complete the career Grand Slam at the 1965 PGA Championship which was played at Laurel Valley Golf Club.
It was a home game for Palmer and, at least in Eisenhower’s mind, where “The King” would ascend to the ultimate throne and complete the career Grand Slam.
Palmer never broke par at Laurel Valley, finished tied for 33rd and never won the PGA. On three occasions, in ’64, ’68 and ’70, Palmer finished runner-up at the PGA but he never fulfilled Eisenhower’s prediction that he would, eventually, complete the career Grand Slam.
As Rory McIlroy bathed in the emotion of a decade of futility Sunday at Augusta National, the King’s Grand Slam plight was worth revisiting. Like Palmer, McIlroy was quick to stardom and completed the first three legs – the U.S. Open, PGA Championship and Open Championship – by 25.
Also like Palmer, most believed the Northern Irishman was destined for the Mount Rushmore of golf and the career Grand Slam – which stands as the game’s most exclusive club with just five members before Sunday (Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen).
And like Palmer, McIlroy had tried and failed to complete the Slam for a decade since he collected the third leg at the Royal Liverpool.
Monday morning’s headlines will inevitably understate McIlroy’s accomplish and for many the notion will be lost in the world No. 2’s mountain of accolades. But McIlroy’s deliverance to the undisputed top of the sport should not be easily dismissed.
Before Sunday in the sunshine, it had been nearly two and a half decades since a player joined the Grand Slam club. Tiger Woods’ 2000 victory at The Open to complete the Slam, a benchmark that also stands as the second leg of the Tiger Slam on his way to four consecutive major victories, seems like a lifetime ago.
As career accolades go there is no comp, not FedExCup titles, Player of the Year awards or myriad victories can match the ultimate goal. For McIlroy, Sunday’s triumph at Augusta National is worth so much more than the sum of its parts.
His eventful playoff victory over Justin Rose transforms McIlroy from a great talent to a generational player.
“It’s a very special moment in the history of the game and Rory just joined a very elite group,” said Tommy Fleetwood, who lingered Sunday behind the Augusta National clubhouse to savor the moment.
History suggests this is a once-in-a-generation moment, and while some might skip past the accomplishment to celebrate the theater of Sunday’s frenzied back-and-forth between McIlroy, Rose, Bryson DeChambeau and Ludvig Åberg, the fact is, it could be another decade or more before the game can celebrate another career Grand Slam.
“Most people at home have a hard time putting that in context. Just six people have done it in the modern era,” said Brad Faxon, McIlroy’s putting coach and a keen observer whose career crosses the eras from Nicklaus to Woods and now Rory. “You know how hard that is? You think of the names that are on that career Grand Slam. Jack and Gary, we’ve had discussions before, they would say their [generation] was a much more difficult time to win those major championships because there were so many players they played against that won a lot of majors.
“I don’t think quite like that. I think the opposite. I think the depth of talent out here is way deeper than it ever was. You were only trying to beat half a dozen guys, maybe a dozen guys back then.”
There are plenty of modern players who could join McIlroy, Tiger, Jack, et al on the career Grand Slam wall. Jordan Spieth could complete his climb at next month’s PGA Championship, although his form and his record at Quail Hollow suggest otherwise.
Five-time major winner Brooks Koepka needs to win the Masters and Open Championship but he’s proven to be a prolific major winner if properly motivated. The same could be said for Xander Schauffele, who joined the race last summer with his PGA and Open Championship victories, as well as Jon Rahm (he’s won the Masters and U.S. Open) and Scottie Scheffler (Masters).
But as McIlroy’s often tortured climb to the career Grand Slam has proven, the path is not linear. He needed 11 attempts at the course many would argue best suited his powerful style of play to complete the climb. By comparison, Woods, Hogan and Sarazen needed just a single attempt to wrap up the Slam and Nicklaus and Player only needed three attempts.
Perhaps, as Eisenhower gambled with Palmer, a spot of immortality is inevitable for the likes of Koepka or Spieth or Rahm; but the capriciousness of sports is undefeated and the only guarantee is that history can be a cruel reminder of what should have been.
With the weight of a decade’s-long climb finally removed from his shoulders, McIlroy beamed with relief, not joy. “It’s the best day of my golfing life,” he said.
If the history of the career Grand Slam is any indication, it’s a day others, too, should savor — it could be awhile before it happens again.
