As the 2024 season approached its conclusion, Rory McIlroy revealed that he had locked himself away for three weeks and hit shots into the screen with no intention of learning where they would have gone.

Rory McIlroy was about to finish his 10th season without a major victory. A sixth Race to Dubai title would cushion the blow. But the Northern Irishman was clearly aware that things had to change quite drastically

Scottie Scheffler had eight of the nine wins he would enjoy in 2024 under his belt by that time. And Xander Schauffele had clinched two more major titles in the previous six months than McIlroy had lifted across the last decade.

Predict who the Ryder Cup captains will be in 2027 🤔

There was also the small matter of that year’s US Open, which ended in heartbreaking fashion for McIlroy as he lost out to Bryson DeChambeau at Pinehurst.

The weeks spent in the simulator appeared to reap significant rewards. McIlroy won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on his first PGA Tour start of the 2025 season.

Within two months, he had won The Players Championship for a second time. Only Jack Nicklaus has won at TPC Sawgrass more often than McIlroy.

McIlroy’s trademark fallibility was on show at The Players. J.J. Spaun came within inches of winning the event on the 72nd hole.

But when it became a showdown between the pair on a gusty Monday morning, McIlroy took control and shut the door on Spaun almost immediately.

He had arguably never been better equipped to win The Masters.

Rory McIlroy appears to still be soul-searching after winning The Masters

The history books will show that 2025 was indeed the year that McIlroy completed the Career Grand Slam. However, anyone who watched that Sunday will struggle to forget the emotional rollercoaster McIlroy took everyone on, with DeChambeau, Justin Rose, and Ludvig Aberg all playing supporting roles.

The big question was what could possibly be next for McIlroy.

Thankfully for Europe, he was able to rediscover his mojo for the Ryder Cup at Bethpage. But the months following The Masters seemed to see McIlroy desperately searching for motivation after realising the dream of a lifetime.

He was prickly at the PGA Championship and the US Open. In fact, it appeared to be a bizarre interaction with the media after his third round at Oakmont that snapped McIlroy out of his slump.

The Ryder Cup in New York less than four months later lit a fire in McIlroy. But he goes into 2026 with no Ryder Cup to win, no Career Grand Slam to complete, and with no Olympic podium to make his way onto.

This is a new era in McIlroy’s career.

It is the era that will decide where exactly he will sit in the pantheon of the greatest players the game has ever seen.

The process appears to no longer drive McIlroy

McIlroy’s comments ahead of this week’s Dubai Desert Classic arguably said a lot about how he intends to tackle this stage of his career.

“I don’t think I’ve been shy about the fact that there’s certain weeks in this game that just mean more to me, especially at this point in my career. It’s just making sure that my game is absolutely ready to go when those weeks come. But you obviously have to play more than that to stay sharp and to get your game in the right place,” he said.

“So you know weeks like this are great because you’re competing but you’re also learning about your game and seeing what you can try to fix or get better at leading into the rest of the season.”

Those comments certainly suggest that the days of McIlroy locking himself away in the simulator for three weeks to make his backswing even more flawless are gone.

The problem with that is that his great rival Scottie Scheffler seems to love the process even more than the raft of victories he picks up along the way.

Scheffler’s comments ahead of last year’s Open Championship were misinterpreted by some as the world number one saying that golf does not truly matter to him.

Instead, it was a love letter to the game. Golf is under his skin and he confessed that he is constantly searching for the exact reason why.

Scheffler’s ability to put the golf clubs away at certain moments arguably makes him the best candidate the game has seen when it comes to trying to emulate the longevity of Jack Nicklaus.

So McIlroy has to find a way to compete with a relentless Scheffler at a time when he may not have the same hunger he had before there was a green jacket hanging up in his closet.

And that may be where McIlroy could look to take a page from the book of a certain Bryson DeChambeau.

Bryson DeChambeau shows the way forward as golf’s number one prizefighter right now

Clearly, McIlroy and DeChambeau are never going to be best friends. DeChambeau attracted criticism at The Masters after revealing that McIlroy did not speak to him throughout the final round.

DeChambeau has been the one player who has used his LIV Golf schedule to his advantage in the majors. He is the only player currently in the league to have won a major after signing with LIV.

The Crushers captain’s record in the four biggest events of the year over the last two seasons is remarkable. As well as winning the US Open in 2024, he has registered five more top 10s.

He has finished second at the last two PGA Championships

It may surprise those who do not watch the league, therefore, that DeChambeau has won just once on LIV since the start of the 2024 season.

He actually finished eighth in the season standings in 2024 with just one top three that year.

DeChambeau has found a way to make sure that he peaks at the right time – without playing a particularly hectic schedule.

DeChambeau has played just two International Series events since the start of the 2023 season.

He is certainly a contender to take the title of golf’s ultimate prizefighter from Brooks Koepka.

And that perhaps provides the blueprint for how McIlroy should tackle however many years he still has at the very highest level.

He can build his schedule around the four majors, as well as the Ryder Cup and the Olympic Games in the years to come.

McIlroy has given so much to the game over the last two decades.

And he can still do so much more – even after reaching a stage where his love for the process has started to fade.