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The moments that changed expectations

Some results confirm what everyone expected. Others end a wait so long that supporters had stopped saying it out loud. 2025 produced an unusual number of the second kind, in golf, football, cricket and rugby, and each of them changed how a player, club or country is remembered.

Soft-lit 3D render of a small golf flag on a pin above a smooth green mound

Six turning points, in the order they changed minds

  1. Rory McIlroy completes the Grand Slam at Augusta

    McIlroy won the Masters in April after a play-off with Justin Rose. He had won the other three majors by 2014 and spent more than a decade returning to Augusta as the one piece missing. Completing the set made him only the sixth player to win all four modern majors, after Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

  2. Crystal Palace win their first major trophy

    Palace, founded in 1905, beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final at Wembley under Oliver Glasner, with Eberechi Eze scoring the goal that settled it. Beating the dominant English club of the era made the win a classic cup story, the kind the competition's long history is built on.

  3. South Africa win the World Test Championship at Lord's

    Temba Bavuma's side beat Australia, the holders, in the final in London, with Aiden Markram's century central to the run chase. It was South Africa's first major ICC title since the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy, ending a long run of near misses in global tournaments.

  4. Newcastle United end a seventy-year wait

    Eddie Howe's team beat Liverpool in the League Cup final at Wembley. It was the club's first major domestic trophy since the 1955 FA Cup, ending a drought that had shaped the identity of generations of supporters.

  5. England's Red Roses win a home World Cup

    England beat Canada in the Women's Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham. They had dominated the women's game for years but lost the 2017 and 2021 finals to New Zealand; this was their first world title since 2014, and it came in front of a home crowd.

  6. Europe win the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black

    Luke Donald's European team held on to win in New York, against a home side captained by Keegan Bradley. It was Europe's first Ryder Cup win on American soil since the 2012 comeback at Medinah, a reminder of how hard away wins in this event have become.

The year's milestones on one line

  1. FebruaryPhiladelphia Eagles win Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
  2. MarchNewcastle United win the League Cup at Wembley.
  3. AprilRory McIlroy wins the Masters and completes the career Grand Slam.
  4. MayCrystal Palace win the FA Cup; Tottenham win the Europa League in Bilbao; Arsenal win the Women's Champions League in Lisbon; Chelsea win the Conference League; Paris Saint-Germain win the Champions League in Munich.
  5. JuneCarlos Alcaraz and Coco Gauff win at Roland Garros; South Africa win at Lord's; the Oklahoma City Thunder and Florida Panthers become champions.
  6. JulyJannik Sinner and Iga Świątek win Wimbledon; Chelsea win the Club World Cup; England retain the Women's Euro.
  7. SeptemberAlcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka win the US Open; England win the Women's Rugby World Cup; Europe win the Ryder Cup.
  8. AutumnThe Los Angeles Dodgers win a second consecutive World Series.

Four kinds of breakthrough

The first-ever title
A club or country lifts a trophy it has never held, as Crystal Palace did with the FA Cup and Paris Saint-Germain with the Champions League.
The broken drought
A former winner ends a long gap, as Newcastle and South Africa's cricketers did. The length of the wait, not the size of the trophy, gives it weight.
The completed set
A player fills the one gap in an otherwise full record, as McIlroy did at Augusta.
The away win
A team wins somewhere history said it struggles, as Europe did in New York and England's women did in Switzerland.