Rory McIlroy heads into his final event of the year declaring 2025 to be ‘The Year of My Dreams”.
For McIlroy it has been very much a dream season winning, and in order as they happened, the AT & T Championship, the Players Championship, the Masters and becoming a Grand Slam winner, savouring a second Irish Open success, being a member of the 2025 victorious European Ryder Cup team and honoured with a seventh DP World Tour No. 1 title.
And in returning to Australia for a first of two confirmed years in succession, having signed to contest the 2026 Austraian Open, a rarey-seen bespectacled McIlroy looked back on his year with complete fondness.
THE YEAR OF MY DREAMS …..
Says a bespectacled @McIlroyRory looking back on season ‘Twenty, Twenty-Five’ & also remarking: “It was also the top or near the top of what I have done in the game.”
Read: https://t.co/9BOnduRD8B
✅ @TOURMISS @AusOpenGolf pic.twitter.com/xKVGJ01fI5
— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) December 2, 2025
“When I look back on this 2025 season it’s been the year of my dreams, really,” said McIlroy prouldy wearing his Masters green jacket.
“I had waited so long to complete that career Grand Slam and to finally get over that line but then also all of the other stuff such as winning The Players Championship and being part of the European Ryder Cup winning team to win in America was something I really wanted to achieve and be a part of, so that was amazing.
“It could do down the highest point of my career but I have finished year and it would be nice to have similar years to this in the future but I will always look back on twenty, twenty five and think back it was the top or near the top of what I have done in the game”.
McIlroy was speaking at a Crown Australian Open gala dinner that hosted the Aussie duo of Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee ahead of the tournament being played for a first occasion on the famed and the Australian No. 1 ranked Royal Melbourne course.
McIlroy is back in Australia for a first time since capturing the 2013 Australian Open. I was a win in his second last event of the year and what would be his only win of 2013 but ensuring he had won at least one tournament a year since his maiden pro career title triumph in 2009.
The host asked both Scott and McIlroy to recall the last hole of the 2013 Australian Open with McIlroy coming from one shot back with a hole to play and birdie both the 17th and 18th holes while Scott, who had lead for 17 holes bogeying the last for McIlroy to win.
Rory McIlroy tells the tale of Steve Williams handshake at the end of the 2013 Australian Open
And McIlroy recalled as bizarre tale of what took place on the final green when after Scott had congratulated McIlroy, so too did Scott’s caddy Kiwi Steve Williams and the long-time former caddy to Tiger Woods.
“If there is one last thing I want to say about that last day, and I holed the putt and won, and Stevie Williams was on Adam’s bag and I have never, ever harded handshake thinking at the time he had broken my hand”, said McIlroy smiling and with Scott sitting alongside McIlroy also smiling broadly.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever had a harder handshake in my life.
“I felt at the time it was either a real big congratulations of there was a bit of resentment in there.”
Indeed, Scott had captured both the 2009 Australian Open and the 2012 Masters with Williams on the bag at Augusta National, so it was scenario of double Aussie Open and Master champs sitting side-by-side on stage in Melbourne.
And in mentioning McIlroy, Scott and Lee on stage together, the trio are out in the same group for the opening two rounds of the premier Australian event.
