Will it ever be my time?

“I started to wonder if it would ever be my time.”

-Rory McIlroy, 2025 Masters Champion, the first European to achieve a Career Grand Slam, and making him only the 6th golfer in history.

Sunday at the Masters was one for the history books. Now my late father was an avid golfer, having golfed in over 40 countries, and he attended the Masters practice round each year with a group of friends, but always returned home to watch final rounds with my sister and me. This means that she and I have been watching the Masters for the last four decades, and we continue to do so in his memory, yesterday being no different.

The main storyline coming into this 2025 was that it was going to be Rory McIlory’s 11th attempt to achieve his Career Grand Slam by clinching the infamous Green Jacket. This story has had all the highs and lows that any drama would need to be considered for the big screen, good TV, or a New York Times’ best seller. Rory has had the win within his grasp more times than we care to count. Each time, holding our breath as we watch the tiny ball make or break his dream.

The raw, authentic emotion that Rory shared with the world in those final moments on his knees will stay with me for many years to come, and certainly holds a top golf moment that I got to witness with my own tiny humans live with millions around the world.

There are 3 main lessons that come out of this incredible story for me:

1. Keep dreaming – When we are little, we get asked a lot about what we want to be when we grow up. We exercise our Be Imaginative and Dream Big muscles often, but as we get older these muscles atrophy. Rory demonstrated the importance of continuing to dream big even when you start to doubt your dreams.
2. Never give up – Setbacks are inevitable, but it’s how you respond to those setbacks that matters most and sets you apart from the rest. It’s activating our resilience with that mindset of continuing to show up, no matter what today, tomorrow, this year, or next brings.
3. Ride the roller coaster – Or better yet, lean into the pivots. We got to witness in this 19-hole Sunday final round, which of course included a play-off hole, a culmination of Rory’s last 11 years of attempting his Career Grand Slam. We joined him on this journey from the sublime to the ridiculous and everything in between. A tweet by Pete Blackburn encapsulated it perfectly: “That is like the perfect way for Rory to win the Masters. Smooth until it wasn’t, took extra long, and was as infuriating as it was impressive.” 

To all those entrepreneurs out there, myself included, what this Masters Sunday reminded me was that no matter what hurdles or obstacles you are facing, no matter how many nos you have heard, no matter how many times you have doubted and asked  “…if it would ever be my time,” Rory’s dream coming true has resurrected hope. 

Sunday, April 13th, 2025, Rory’s time arrived, his breakthrough happened, his dream came true. We keep getting shit done, each and every day, because we don’t know when that breakthrough is coming.