Rory McIlroy dismisses motivation claim days before The Masters: "This isn't the end"

Rory McIlroy has rejected any suggestion he will play the remainder of his career without motivation. 

McIlroy, 36, will make the trip up Magnolia Lane next week for the 2026 Masters as the defending champion. 

Last April, the Northern Irishman was reduced to a blubbering wreck on the 18th green after securing victory over his Ryder Cup teammate, Justin Rose, in a sudden-death playoff at Augusta National. 

It ended his 11-year wait for a major championship triumph and saw him join an exclusive club as only the sixth male golfer to complete the career grand slam, joining Jack Nicklaus, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Tiger Woods. 

It was anticipated that an unburdened McIlroy would possibly challenge for further trophies in 2025 at the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and The Open. 

The PGA Championship was staged at Quail Hollow - a venue where McIlroy has won four times - whilst who would've bet against the Ulsterman playing in front of his home fans at Royal Portrush?

Not to mention that McIlroy, over the years, has slowly gotten to grips with U.S. Open tests. 

Yet McIlroy was fortunate to make the cut at the PGA Championship and, despite leaping into contention at The Open last July with a third round 66, could not chase down Scottie Scheffler. 

McIlroy also finished just inside the top 20 at the U.S. Open staged at Oakmont. 

Questions naturally arose over whether McIlroy might face a motivation challenge, with some suggesting that only an away Ryder Cup win, an Olympic medal, or an Open victory at St Andrews could reignite his drive.

But during an interview with the Guardian's Ewan Murray, McIlroy said it was "not at all" the case that he lacks motivation. 

"I still want to achieve things, I still want to win things," he told the paper. "This isn't the end.

"I feel like with the way I am playing and feeling … physically I feel better at 36 than I did at 25. I still have a lot left. 

"If I can produce the golf shots that I needed to produce down the last few holes at Augusta, feeling the way I was feeling then, I am pretty capable of doing anything in this game."

McIlroy added: "The majors will still all feel the same to me. The majors are the biggest. I have played more majors in my career than I will do going forward, in the sense of having a really, really legitimate chance to win.

"I don't think they will feel any different now. There will always be the intensity there. Maybe not the pressure but I will still have the intensity and work the same way towards them."

McIlroy, who also claimed he wants to try and win a grand slam of majors with caddie Harry Diamond by his side, said he still wants to be competitive in his mid-40s. 

"You look at what Justin Rose has done," McIlroy said. 

"He is still competitive at 45 and I would like to think if I do the right things, pace myself and play the schedule that suits, not playing a ton of golf to stop me being burnt out every year, that I can get to that point as well."

McIlroy previously spoke of a desire to dramatically reduce his playing schedule. 

He insisted that he does not believe standard PGA Tour events are "less important". 

But he added: "At the same time if I have 10 years left and I really want to prioritise the majors then the other tournaments are great to play in, you want to win them. 

"It is just that every time I play in a PGA Tour event I have one eye on what I need to do for the next few weeks, leading into majors."