Rory McIlroy finding his smile in New Orleans may be exactly what he needed to kick-start his game

In a sport that has become obsessed with shiny new objects, it’s still a historic achievement that rings truer and more authentic. Especially when a historic signpost is reached at the end of a week fueled only by beignets and joy.

Rory McIlroy in New Orleans on Sunday joined an exclusive club of golfers after completing a team event that seemed to infuse him with enormous joy. The names of this club are basically a who’s who of players who have made their mark on the PGA Tour since World War II.

His victory alongside Shane Lowry at the 2024 Zurich Classic placed McIlroy in the group of now a dozen golfers who have won at least 25 times on the PGA Tour, with at least four major championships to their name.

You know most of them by a single name.

This club is based on an arbitrary set of numbers, of course, but it nonetheless helps emphasize that McIlroy is one of the best golfers in PGA Tour history.

That would have been true if he and Lowry had lost to Martin Trainer and Chad Ramey in the playoffs at TPC Louisiana, but the numbers look good and this group of golfers — as a contingent — is unassailable.

McIlroy was incredible all week. He tends to be at his best when playing for something bigger than himself; PGA Tour honors and a Ryder Cup trophy come to mind. He also seems to thrive in team environments.

His relationship with his longtime friend Lowry was the main focus as they visited all of the great restaurants in New Orleans and seemed to enjoy playing 72 (or 73) holes together as much as they enjoyed winning the tournament. This is the kind of environment in which the world’s number two player – who has often carried the team – thrives.

“The reason Shane and I started playing golf is because we thought it was fun at some point in our lives,” said McIlroy, who was looking back on their friendship, which goes beyond the beginning of their professional careers. “I think reinjecting some of that fun into a week like this can always help.”

Fun feeds hunger and the circle is contagious.

“But I think also playing the type of golf we played down the stretch when there was a little bit of pressure, I think that’s going to be important for us as well,” he added. “But yeah, I’ve always felt like I play my best golf when I’m having fun, and it’s hard not to have fun when you’re walking the fairways with Shane.”

The fun continued after the win, when McIlroy sang a karaoke version of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” at a party marking a week that started with a drunken post-Ryder Cup lunch in which they decided to play this team event together. And then they went and won.

If McIlroy can bottle that joy and use it to fuel his game for the rest of 2024, it could greatly affect the future clubs he joins. This 25-4 club is special, no doubt, but it starts to feel less crowded as players move up that ladder.

Next? There is the 30-5 club and the 40-6 club. These rooms are scarce.

• 30 PGA Tour wins, five majors (10): Woods, Snead, Nicklaus, Hogan, Palmer, Nelson, Hagen, Mickelson, Watson, Sarazen
• 40 PGA Tour wins, six majors (7): Woods, Snead, Nicklaus, Hogan, Palmer, Hagen, Mickelson

McIlroy will turn 35 in a few weeks and will win about two PGA Tour events a year. Give him between five and eight more years of prominence and it’s not unreasonable to believe he can achieve something close to 40 PGA Tour victories. The most pressing issue, of course, is the majors; he hasn’t achieved one since 2014, although he has managed 10 top-five finishes in that time.

The PGA Championship returns to Valahalla in three weeks, which is incidentally the site of McIlroy’s last major in August 2014. A decade is a long time, but McIlroy has played arguably the best golf of his career over the past two years.

While that didn’t continue into early 2024, perhaps coming off a win in which he managed to get himself out of his head will fuel him in the final two-thirds of the season.

That’s the hope of someone who, even if he never wins on the PGA Tour again, will be considered one of the best to ever do it.

“Hopefully we can both start now,” Lowry said. “We have three courses left. Hopefully we can get one each or maybe two and one.

“That would be good,” McIlroy said.

“That’s the plan for the rest of the summer,” Lowry added.