McGirt's first appearance in a major was at the PGA Championship in 2012, but he missed the cut. He had three runner-up finishes before his first win at age 36 in June 2016 at the Memorial Tournament in Ohio. It was his 165th start on the PGA Tour, and he won on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff with Jon Curran. It was McGirt's first professional win of any kind since his mini-tour victory nine years earlier in 2007. He earned $1.53 million for winning the Memorial, almost 100 times more than the $16,000 prize for his mini-tour win. The win earned him a three-year PGA Tour exemption, moved him to 44th in the Official World Golf Ranking, and qualified him for the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, and the Masters. McGirt also qualified for the 2016 Open Championship based on his FedEx Cup position. His career high world ranking is 38th, after a T10 at the 2016 PGA Championship.