Rory McIlroy is now seen as one of the six best golfers ever. He should feel very proud of this great achievement.

But McIlroy still has a lot more to do in the future.

He will be 36 next month. He thinks he plays better now than 10 years ago. It looks like this is true.

Rory McIlroy has played golf as a job for 18 years. He has never won three times before May in a year. Now, he feels very free when he plays. It's like he has nothing to lose. This feeling is not because he has already won a lot of money this year.

He won the Masters tournament, making him the champion.

He now has a locker upstairs at Augusta National. He will always have a green jacket waiting for him there, and he can always sit at the Masters Club dinner on Tuesday nights. It took him 11 years to achieve this, so he must feel very happy.

McIlroy breathed heavily after winning on the final hole. He was very relieved. He said he felt happy quickly after that. You could see this on his face when Scottie Scheffler helped him put on the green jacket.

"What will we all talk about next year?" McIlroy asked. He feels free now.

Would it be possible to schedule it for next month?

He has won all four big tennis tournaments in his career. Maybe he can win all four in one year too. The other big tournaments this year look good for him.

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

Last summer, players were asked a fun question: If the best player could choose where to have the last game, where would it be? McIlroy quickly said Quail Hollow.

The U.S. Open is at Oakmont. This is a long course that is good for players who hit the ball far. This could be good for him. But last time he played there, he did not play well because of the rain and he did not continue in the tournament.

The British Open golf tournament is returning to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, which is Rory McIlroy's home. He hopes to perform better this time because the last time he played there, he had a difficult start and did not make it to the final rounds of the competition.

He feels more free than stressed when he comes back.

That will not happen soon, but it shows how people are talking about McIlroy now. They are not talking about what he did not have, but about what more he can get.

Scheffler said on Tuesday that he understands a little how it feels when people ask, "You did this well, but you didn't do that." He said this can make people feel tired sometimes.

Brad Faxon, a friend who helps McIlroy with putting, said McIlroy can win many more big golf tournaments and could get 10 in total.

Famous golfers Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus thought young Tiger Woods could win 10 big golf tournaments. This is the same number they won together. Tiger won 5 times.

In 2011, Rory McIlroy was close to winning a big golf tournament. Another player, Padraig Harrington, said that Rory could be the one to try and beat Jack Nicklaus's record.

Nicklaus is the best in golf with 18 big wins. McIlroy has five now, the same as Brooks Koepka. That is 10 less than Woods.

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

But this was hard for McIlroy. He hadn't won a big golf competition for 11 years. He really wanted to win the Masters, but in 16 tries before, he only had a good chance to win two times when he got to the end of the game.

Some players like Greg Norman, Tom Weiskopf, David Duval, and Ken Venturi had more problems.

McIlroy said two years ago that he would have 100 Sundays like that to win another big golf tournament. He would have had 1,000 Sundays to win a green jacket, because it was very important.

McIlroy is now the sixth player to win all the biggest golf tournaments. He is with Woods, Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan, and Gene Sarazen. But only four of them won in the way players do now. This is because winning all four tournaments was not a common idea until 1960.

Only one other player, Sarazen, won all four major tournaments at the Masters in 1935. At that time, the tournament had a different name, the Augusta National Invitation Tournament. The famous green jackets and the special dinner for winners started many years later.

McIlroy is the only player to win the last part of the Masters tournament. This tournament is special because it is always played on the same golf course. People have strong memories there. This win was very important.

Think about how great this achievement is. Look at the famous golfers he is with, and also at the great golfers who are not there.

Sam Snead has won 82 PGA Tour games. This is a record that he shares with another player. He doesn't have this record because he didn't win the U.S. Open. Phil Mickelson has won more games than McIlroy, but he has not won the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open is one of the most important golf tournaments.

Tom Watson won 39 times on the PGA Tour and won eight important tournaments. Many people think Palmer is the most important person in golf today. But neither of them won the PGA Championship.

McIlroy started to think he might only be a player who was almost great. Winning the Masters helps him stop worrying about this. Now, we need to see how much more he can do.