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Par for the course? Why Ryder Cup hero McIlroy may miss Spoty cut once again
The Guardian
|December 18, 2025
It has been a 2025 for the ages for Rory McIlroy. He cemented his legacy by completing a career grand slam with victory at the Masters.
Then he carried Europe on his back at the Ryder Cup, defying the venom and spite of a braying Maga crowd. Now, though, he has one final devilish sandtrap to navigate: the curse of golf at the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year (Spoty) award.
Only twice in the 71-year history of the event has a golfer claimed the honour: the Welshman Dai Rees in 1957, when he captained Great Britain and Ireland to Ryder Cup success, and the Englishman Nick Faldo, following his Masters success in 1989. It is a pitiful return. Especially given athletics stars have won it 19 times, Formula One drivers eight, and football and tennis players seven.
"I suppose if I don't win it this time, I never will," McIllroy admitted recently. But while he is a piping-hot favourite to win the award, he has been stung before. In 2014 he was even more strongly fancied for Spoty glory, having won back-to-back majors, only to be pipped by Lewis Hamilton. When a sheepish Hamilton accepted the award, he told McIllroy: "I really wasn't expecting it, because, dude, you had such an incredible year."
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