Golfer Rory McIlroy has been voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2025.
The 36-year-old Northern Irishman achieved golfing immortality in April by completing the career Grand Slam with his first Masters title at Augusta National.
Having won the US Open, The Open and US PGA Championship by 2014, McIlroy had to wait another 11 years to complete the full set of major championships.
In doing so he became the sixth man – and first European – to clinch the Slam, joining Americans Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, and South Africa’s Gary Player, in accomplishing the feat.
McIlroy then played a key role in Europe’s first Ryder Cup win in the United States since 2012, contributing three-and-a-half points to his team’s success.
He also delighted his home crowd by winning the Irish Open for a second time, with further successes at the Players Championship and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, before topping off a stellar year with his seventh Race to Dubai title.
England rugby union player Ellie Kildunne came second, with Formula 1 driver Lando Norris in third.
England forward Chloe Kelly, Lionesses goalkeeper Hannah Hampton and darts player Luke Littler were also shortlisted for the award by a panel of experts, with the winner decided by a public vote.
McIlroy is just the third golfer to win Sports Personality, after Dai Rees in 1957 and Nick Faldo in 1989.
The Holywood-born McIlroy is the third Northern Irishman to win the award, following boxer Barry McGuigan in 1985 and jockey Sir AP McCoy in 2010.
Team Europe were voted the Team of the Year on Thursday after their Ryder Cup success, seeing off competition from England’s Euro 2025-winning women’s football team and England’s Women’s Rugby World Cup champions.
