Category profile
- Dominance
- 84
- Peak
- 90
- Longevity
- 84
- Honours
- 86
- Statistics
- 88
Career timeline · Wins per season
| Season | Wins per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 2 | |
| 2012 | 5 | |
| 2013 | 3 | |
| 2014 | 4 | |
| 2015 | 2 | |
| 2016 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 0 | |
| 2018 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 2 | |
| 2022 | 3 | |
| 2023 | 2 | |
| 2024 | 2 | |
| 2025 | 3 |
Data sources
- PGA Tour
- DP World Tour
- OWGR
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Rory McIlroy ranks #19 in Golf
Rory McIlroy ranks 19th among Golf athletes on GOAT Rank and 653rd of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 86.2 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 84, Peak 90, Longevity 84, Honours 86, Statistics 88. Those categories are normalised against the full Golf reference universe of 266 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 2007–present with 17 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 2012, which sets the Peak component at 90. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 90 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes major titles 5, pga tour wins 28, dp world tour wins 19, weeks at no. 1 122.
Immediately ahead sits Walter Hagen on 86.3, a gap of 0.1 points. Directly behind is JoAnne Carner on 84.2. The position moves whenever the verified record moves: new titles, new seasons or a corrected source all feed straight back into the same formula, and every change is dated on this profile.
Rory McIlroy GOAT Score explained
- Dominance84/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far McIlroy stood above the field while competing. Scored 84/100 against the full Golf cohort.
- Peak90/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 2012. Scored 90/100.
- Longevity84/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 19 years of competition and 17 recorded seasons. Scored 84/100.
- Honours86/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 86/100.
- Statistics88/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 88/100.
Top McIlroy comparisons
Rory McIlroy — frequently asked
- Is Rory McIlroy the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Rory McIlroy ranks 19th in Golf with a GOAT Score of 86.2, behind Jack Nicklaus on 95.0.
- What is Rory McIlroy's GOAT Score?
- 86.2 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 84 (25%), Peak 90 (20%), Longevity 84 (20%), Honours 86 (20%), Statistics 88 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Rory McIlroy rank all time?
- 653rd of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 19th within Golf.
- Rory McIlroy vs Walter Hagen: who ranks higher?
- Walter Hagen, on 86.3 against Rory McIlroy's 86.2 — a margin of 0.1 points.