The hair is greyer, the body is as toned yet perhaps more defined, and the collapse to the ground clearly has more emotion as he finally completes the extraordinary journey to career-Grand Slam immortality.
But the images of Rory McIlroy winning the 2014 US PGA Championship and Rory McIlroy prevailing at the 2025 Masters have more similarities than differences. A golfing genius doing what he does and for which his talent was born – celebrating on the game’s biggest stage.
However, any ‘spot the difference’ puzzle cannot begin to sum up a period that eventually led to one of the greatest comebacks on the fairways.