Now, the list of the greatest golfers has six names, and Rory McIlroy should feel like he has reached the top of the sport.

But there is still a lot more for McIlroy to achieve in the future.

He will be 36 next month, and he thinks he is a better player now than he was ten years ago. There is strong support for this idea.

In his 18 years as a professional golfer, McIlroy has never won three times before May. He feels very free and relaxed, and this feeling is not because of the large amount of money he has already won this year on the PGA Tour.

He emerged victorious in the prestigious Masters tournament.

He now has a locker upstairs in the Augusta National clubhouse. A size 38 green jacket will be there for him for the rest of his life. He also gets a seat at the Masters Club dinner on Tuesday night. He worked for 11 years to achieve this. It must be a great feeling.

McIlroy breathed heavily after winning on the last hole, showing great relief. He said he felt happy very soon after, which was clear from his face when Scottie Scheffler helped him put on the green jacket.

"What will we talk about next year?" McIlroy asked. He said this first in the Butler Cabin and later at the start of his press conference. This shows how free he feels.

Would the following month be a more suitable time?

He has now won all four major tournaments in his career. It's possible he could win all of them this year, and the next tournaments seem like a good chance for him.

The PGA Championship is next month at Quail Hollow. Rory McIlroy has won there four times before.

Last summer, he was one of the players who answered a fun question. If the best player in the FedEx Cup could choose where the Tour Championship was held, where would it be? McIlroy quickly said Quail Hollow.

The U.S. Open is at Oakmont, a difficult course for strong players. This would be good for him, but the last time he played there, he got a score of 77 in his first game. This game took two days because of rain, and he did not play on the weekend.

The British Open is back at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, where it began for McIlroy, and he wants to do better this time. Last time he played there, he felt a lot of pressure and hit his first shot out of bounds, scoring an 8 and not playing in the later rounds.

He returns feeling more free than pressured.

That might not happen soon, but it shows how the talk about McIlroy has changed. People are now thinking about what else he can do, not what he was missing.

Scheffler, who was with him, said on Tuesday: "I don't know what it feels like to be asked about winning all the major golf tournaments, but I understand a little what it feels like to be asked, 'You've done this, but you haven't done that.' It can be difficult for people sometimes."

Brad Faxon, a friend and putting coach for McIlroy, thinks McIlroy can win many more major golf tournaments. He said McIlroy could win twice as many as he has now, or even ten.

Famous golfers Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus thought that young Tiger Woods had the ability to win 10 Masters tournaments. This was the same number they won together. Woods won five.

Before McIlroy won his first major tournament in 2011, Padraig Harrington said about him, 'If you want to talk about someone who could break Jack's record, he's the one.'

Nicklaus is seen as the best in golf because he won 18 major tournaments. McIlroy has won five, which is the same number as Brooks Koepka, and ten less than Woods.

It's easy to get excited. This Masters is one of the best moments at Augusta National, like when Woods won in 2019, 2001, and 1997, Nicklaus won in 1986 and 1975, and Arnold Palmer won in 1960.

But this was hard for McIlroy, not just on Sunday but for the past 16 years. He hadn't won a big tournament for 11 years, and even though winning the Masters was his dream, in his 16 tries before, he only had a good chance to win twice when he reached the last nine holes.

Players like Greg Norman, Tom Weiskopf, David Duval, and Ken Venturi had more painful experiences in their careers.

McIlroy said he would have 100 Sundays like that to win another major tournament. But he would have 1,000 to get a green jacket, especially because it was so important.

McIlroy is now the sixth golfer to win all four major tournaments in his career, like Woods, Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan, and Gene Sarazen. But only four of them really won the career Grand Slam as we know it now, because it wasn't a recognized thing until Arnold Palmer called it that in 1960.

The only other player to win all four major championships at the Masters was Sarazen in 1935. This was only the second time the tournament happened, and it had a different name then. He won the Augusta National Invitation Tournament. Green jackets were not given to winners until 1949, and the special dinner for past winners on Tuesday night did not start until 1952.

McIlroy is the only player to win the last part of the Masters. This tournament is always held at the same place, and people have strong memories there. This shows how special it was.

To see how big this achievement is, think about the famous golfers he is now with, and also the famous golfers who are not seen as the very best.

Sam Snead and Tiger Woods have won the most tournaments on the PGA Tour, with 82 wins each. But Snead never won the U.S. Open. Phil Mickelson has won more major tournaments than Rory McIlroy, but Mickelson still needs to win the U.S. Open to win all four major championships.

Tom Watson won 39 times on the PGA Tour and eight major tournaments. Palmer is considered by some to be the most important person in modern golf. But neither of them ever won the PGA Championship.

McIlroy started to think if he would always be someone who almost became great. Winning the Masters helps him stop worrying about that. Now, the question is how much more he can do.