Rory McIlroy didn’t mince his words. His message was clear. His goals for 2025 were to win the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam and win an away Ryder Cup. Now, on the back of a dominant performance in New York last week in Europe's victory, he has achieved both things. As he said on Sunday evening at Bethpage, “It’s been the best year of my career, on and off the course.”

So what’s next?

There's no doubt Rory would say “very little” for the time being. He told us he had made a commitment at the start of the year to have more fun and travel more. That resulted in him heading to New Zealand to play golf at the start of the year and was followed by taking in a Borussia Dortmund game in Germany, a family holiday to Montana and even a boys trip to Saint-Tropez after the Open Championship.

But when he does get back to his home course, The Bears Club in Jupiter, Fla., takes his glove out again and begins practicing, what are the things will drive him?

Reading between the lines of things he’s said in recent years, here’s five career goals I think he may still have on his professional bucket list:

1. An Olympic medal

After missing golf’s return to the Olympics in 2016, McIlroy donned Irish green in 2021 in Japan and narrowly missed out on a medal after a seven-man playoff for the bronze, eventually won by C.T. Pan of Chinese-Taipei. “I’ve never tried so hard in my life to finish third” he told the media after the event. Four years later in Paris, McIlroy again came close to the podium. Weekend rounds of 66-66 saw him finish 15 under par, just two shots behind Hideki Matsuyama who took home the bronze medal. After that week, he compared the event to the Ryder Cup and said it was one of the “best individual competitions I've been a part of."

With all of that said, it’s easy to imagine that Riviera in 2028 is very much in his sights for the future.

Andrew Redington

2. The Ryder Cup points record

You don’t need me to tell you what the Ryder Cup means to McIlroy. From his naive younger days of calling the event an “exhibition,” he has turned into the leader of the European team and again showed just how passionate he is about the event, after winning away from home at Bethpage Black last month. His 3½ points in New York saw his total points tally at the Ryder Cup rise to 21½ points, seventh all-time on the European side. The record points tally is held by Sergio Garcia, who won 2½ of his 28½ points alongside McIlroy. To overtake the Spaniard, Rory will need to win 7½ more points, the exact number of points he won in Rome and New York combined. Could he reach that mark at Hazeltine in 2029?

3. An Open Championship win at St. Andrews

It seemed McIlroy was just a few swings away from achieving this in 2022, before Cam Smith’s remarkable back nine at the Old Course snatched the claret jug from his grasp. A clear student of the game and its history, the significance of winning the game’s oldest major on The Old Course is not lost on McIlroy. That week three years ago, he described it as “the holy grail of golf,” saying that winning an Open at the Home of Golf is “one of the highest achievements that you can have in golf.”

The Open returns to the Old Course in two years. McIlroy will be 38 years old and likely still one of the favorites going into that week. Will it be his turn this time around?

Ross Kinnaird

4. Two more Race to Dubai titles

When McIlroy won the Race to Dubai last November, he did so for the third straight year and the sixth time in his career. It was a historic achievement, as he tied the late Seve Ballesteros for second all-time. Only Colin Montgomerie has won more Order of Merit titles on the DP World Tour. The Scot won eight, including seven in a row from 1993 onwards. McIlroy is once again in pole position to take home the Harry Vardon trophy in 2025, leading the Race to Dubai rankings with just six events left to play. He is expected to play in three more events, teeing it up in India, Abu Dhabi and the season finale in Dubai.

David Cannon

5. Two more majors

Talking of two more titles, how about two more majors for the Northern Irishman? When McIlroy completed the career Grand Slam, it put him at five major championship titles and sparked the debate of whether he is the greatest European golfer of all-time. One argument against that narrative is Nick Faldo. His three Masters titles and three Open Championship wins put him one major clear of McIlroy on six. While McIlroy is tied again with Ballesteros, two more major titles from here on out would likely cement his legacy as Europe’s best ever player.

So you have it. Five fresh goals for the reigning Masters champion moving forward. But, for now at least, I think he’s earned the right to put his feet up for a couple of weeks.

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