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 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 apiece.
“I suppose if I don’t win it this time, I never will,” McIllroy admitted recently. But while he is 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 McIlroy: “I really wasn’t expecting it, because, dude, you had such an incredible year.”
Golf’s barren record has barely improved since. Danny Willett finished last in the voting after winning the Masters in 2016 while Georgia Hall and Matt Fitzpatrick failed to make the shortlist after winning the Women’s Open in 2018 and the US Open in 2022.
McIlroy’s supporters have started to suspect that 2025 is looking ominously like 2014. Earlier this month Lando Norris was crowned Formula One world champion for the first time. He is pretty and popular and, like Hamilton 11 years ago, his Spoty odds have notably shortened.
The other live contender, according to bookmakers, is the Lionesses’ Chloe Kelly, who thumped home the winning spot-kick in England’s shootout win in the Euro 2025 final. Kelly would become the fifth woman in succession to win the award, following Kelly Hodgkinson last year, her fellow Lionesses Mary Earps and Beth Mead in 2023 and 2022 respectively, and the former US Open champion Emma Radacanu in 2021.
Kelly admits it would be an honour to become part of that famous five. However, she acknowledges the broader picture – with her teammate Hannah Hampton, who made several extraordinary saves during the Euros, and the England rugby star Ellie Kildunne, the driving force behind the Red Roses’ World Cup triumph in September, also making the shortlist.
“It shows women’s sport is on the up,” Kelly said. “We are putting bums on seats and making people see who we really are as athletes. I think it’s incredible. We’ve come so far as sportswomen and we’re here to stay.”
The final contender, the 18-year-old darts prodigy Luke Littler, says he will not be attending the award as he focuses on defending his world title. Yet that may not necessarily be a barrier to success. In 2017, Mo Farah was regarded as a 50-1 underdog and so watched the event on his couch. No one looked more stunned when the cameras panned to him and his name was read out.
But surprises can happen with an award that awkwardly fuses sporting prowess and likability together. Perceived wisdom is flipped on its head. Shocks occur. And the Great British public zigs when everyone expects it to zag. Back in 2006, for instance, the golfer Darren Clarke was seen as a shoo-in after helping Europe retain the Ryder Cup after the death of his wife, Heather, from cancer. That year a strong shortlist also featured Joe Calzaghe, who had remained unbeaten WBO super-middleweight champion for over a decade, and Beth Tweddle, Britain’s first world champion gymnast.
And yet who won? Zara Phillips, then 11th in line to the throne. Sure, her victory in the World Equestrian Games played a part, but being a member of the royal family proved to be the clincher.
This year it really should be McIlroy’s turn. Becoming only the sixth man in history to complete golf’s career grand slam should be enough by itself to win it. But his immense fortitude under fire at the Ryder Cup, when he and his wife were repeatedly abused, ought to seal the deal.
The Northern Irishman is leaving nothing to chance. The last time he was on the shortlist, in December 2023, he didn’t bother showing up. “Whenever I saw the results, I forgot I was nominated,” he said a month later. “So that’s how much I think about it. It’s a popularity contest. It’s not what it once was.”
This time round, though, he is playing the game. He will be at the awards show in Manchester on Thursday night, smiling and telling a few stories, hoping to charm a few last floating voters – and to put the finishing touches on an enthralling and extraordinary year.
