The wait is a long one.
When the last putt is struck at the British Open in July, it’s nine long months before the next major championship begins.
That’s the Masters the following April.
As long as that wait seems, it’s even longer for some players who are in pursuit of significant firsts in their respective careers.
Rory McIlroy is at the front of that line. Yes, he has won four major championships (in span of four years), but he hasn’t won one in 10 years. He is on record saying it’s been so long that it feels like whenever he wins another, it will feel like his first.
McIlroy, too, is in search of his first career Masters victory. That’s of particular significance because McIlroy has won each of the other three major championships, and a green jacket would make him a career Grand Slam winner, something just five of the all-time great players have accomplished.
The pressure is building and weighing on him, even though he’s still just 34 years old.
McIlroy has played 36 major championships since his last win in a major, and has three runner-up finishes, 10 top-fives and 20 top-10s in those.
Then you have accomplished stars such as Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele, two players who’ve won multiple PGA Tour events and played on Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups but are still in search of their first major.
Fowler is playing in the Masters this week for the first time since 2020 because of how far he had fallen in the world rankings. He has played 49 majors without a win and is the clear-cut candidate as “the most accomplished player without a win in a major.’’
Schauffele will be playing in his 27th career major this week at Augusta, but is ranked No. 5 in the world and he’s hungry.
In the you-think-you-have-problems? department when it comes to having not won a major, you have a player like Cameron Young, who’s star has been on a rapid ascent since he got his PGA Tour card in 2022.
Young has done a lot of things since he got onto the Tour, elevating his ranking enough to have gotten into all the majors, and finishing third at the 2022 PGA and runner-up at last year’s British Open. He, too, played on a winning Presidents Cup team and was the highest-ranked player left off the Ryder Cup team last fall.
But what Young has not done yet is win on the PGA Tour. He has played in 60 PGA Tour events without a win but has seven runner-up finishes, tied for the most of anyone who’d never won in the past 40 years.
“I’ve definitely let it get to me at times,” Young said of not winning on the eve of his most recent runner-up, at the Valspar last month.
In fairness to Young, he has never lost a 54-hole lead to lose in those seven runner-up results, and his scoring average in his six runner-up finishes in stroke play is 67.5.
“As often as he came close … he believes that sooner or later it’s just a matter of time until one of those weeks is his,’’ Young’s father and coach David told The Post in December 2022. “On the other hand, he’s anxious to get that over with and sort of get on with that and not have than hanging over him. It does weigh on you out here. Until you win, you really don’t feel like you’re really part of the upper crust until you start winning.’’
All of these players — and more — will have something heavy weighing on them as they play this week’s Masters. All golfers, regardless of how accomplished they are, are forever in pursuit of the next thing.
“I feel I’ve done a lot, but I don’t feel like I’ve done everything,’’ Schauffele told The Post last week. “But in terms of goals, very high up there on the chart for me [is] to win a major. So yeah, there’s added pressure. You find yourself wanting something so much. When you’re playing well, you get so close.’’
Schauffele, who has seven PGA Tour victories, has finished in the top 10 in 11 majors and in the top six seven times. So, he’s not unaccustomed handling major championship pressure. But he’s not immune to the building pressure that a week like this Masters presents.
“I haven’t won in a couple of years,’’ Schauffele said. “But I know I’m going to win, and once I do, there’s a chance I might rattle off a ton of them, because I’m the person having the most fun of anyone. When I enjoy what I’m doing, I will excel, and I don’t think anything’s going to stop me from winning a major someday.’’
