Reliving Rory McIlroy’s 20 PGA Tour Victories

To help celebrate Rory McIlroy's 20th PGA Tour win at last week's CJ Cup @ Summit, we've been reminiscing a little here at Hole19 HQ by going through his back catalogue of victories.

Storming the world stage

Despite struggling in his first few tournaments on the PGA Tour, and labouring to make the cut at the Quail Hollow Championship in May 2010, the young prodigy stunned the golf word by posting a -16 weekend score to capture his first professional title across the pond.

Likening his final round 62 to the course record 61 shot at Royal Portrush as a 16-year-old, he reported feeling 'in the zone' from start to finish. The win immediately propelled the then 20-year-old inside the world's top-10.

The major years (2011-2014)

McIlroy arrived at Congressional Country Club in Maryland for the 2011 US Open nursing some serious scar tissue after a chastening collapse at The Masters just two months previous.

He defied those painful memories and took advantage of rain-softened conditions to shoot the lowest 72-hole score in U.S. Open history.

After a further win at the 2012 Honda Classic, where he held off a late charge from Tiger Woods, McIlroy arrived at Kiawah Island for the 2012 PGA Championship with many expecting a strong showing.

Another awe-inspiring performance ensued as the young Ulsterman recorded a second eight-shot major championship victory.

FedEx Cup Playoff wins followed at both the 2012 Deutsche Bank Championship and the 2012 BMW Championship, however McIlroy would fall short in the season-ending Tour Championship (won by Brandt Snedeker).

He did manage to complete a hat-trick of major championship wins at the 143rd Open Championship in 2014. Hosted at a blustery Hoylake, McIlroy held his game together when faced with a spirited challenge from Ryder Cup teammate Sergio Garcia.

He was now three legs into his quest for a career grand slam at the tender age of just 25.

The 2014 Bridgestone Invitational was the first of three World Golf Championship wins, and this was closely followed by a fourth major championship victory at the 2014 PGA Championship.

To date, it's McIlroy's most recent major championship victory and he raced to finish before darkness set in, making all the clutch shots needed to win his second career Wanamaker Trophy.

Further PGA Tour wins (2015-2019)

Though he has yet to add to the four major championships he secured so early in his career, the post-major years have been far from fruitless.

TPC Harding Park was the venue for McIlroy's solitary match play win - the 2015 WGC Cadillac Match Play. In the process, he became only the third player behind Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus to win 10 PGA tour events and four majors by the age of 25.

Further success followed that same year with a second career win at Quail Hollow at the 2015 Wells Fargo Championship.

2016 was a year that substantially filled the coffers as he went on a charge late in the season to win both the 2016 Deutsche Bank Championship and the season-ending 2016 Tour Championship where he netted a cool $10M bonus pool.

A win at the 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational was next up, with a run of five birdies in the final six holes helping McIlroy to a first win in 18 months.

TPC Sawgrass was the perfect setting for the Northern Irishman to trigger some joyous St. Patrick's Day celebrations as he won the 2019 THE PLAYERS Championship.

In the same year, shortly after capturing the 2019 Canadian Open title, he won another $15M by prevailing in the money-spinning 2019 Tour Championship season-ender.

A final win of the year - and third career WGC - came at the 2019 WGC-HSBC Championship in Shanghai.

Resurgent Rory in 2021

Going without a win for some 21 months - the second longest winless drought of his career - McIlroy arrived at his beloved Quail Hollow for the 2021 Wells Fargo Championship in the hope that familiar surroundings would help him recapture tip-top form.

An impressive 66 on Friday laid the groundwork, before a pair of 68s proved enough to hold off a late charge from Abraham Ancer.

The 20th PGA Tour victory came at this past week's 2021 CJ Cup with McIlroy confirming that the upturn in form was, in part, inspired by the heartache he endured at the 2021 Ryder Cup.

20 PGA Tour victories by the age of 32 is remarkable by any measure, and we all can't wait to see if he can manage another 20 - and perhaps even a Green Jacket.

Watch this space!!