He will be 36 next month and thinks he is a better player now than 10 years ago, which seems to be true.

In his 18 years as a professional golfer, McIlroy had never won three times by May before. Now, he feels very free and confident when he plays, and this feeling is not just because of the money he has already won.

He has emerged victorious in the prestigious Masters tournament.

He now has a locker upstairs at Augusta National. A size 38 green jacket will be there for him always, and he has a seat at the dinner on Tuesday night. It took 11 years to make this happen. It's a great feeling.

McIlroy dropped his head on the 18th green after winning, showing how relieved he was. "I felt happy very soon after," he said. 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 in Butler Cabin and later at the start of his news conference. He feels free because of this.

Would it be convenient for you to meet sometime next month?

He has won all four major tennis tournaments in his career. Now, people are starting to think if he can win them all in one year because the remaining tournaments seem good for him.

The PGA Championship will be next month at Quail Hollow, and McIlroy has won there four times.

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

The U.S. Open is at Oakmont, a long course good for strong players. This should be good for him, but the last time he played there, his first round took two days because of rain, and he did not play at the weekend.

The British Open is back at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, McIlroy's home, and he wants to do better this time. When the Open was last at Portrush, he had high hopes but started by hitting the ball out-of-bounds, which led to a score of 8 on the first hole and meant he didn't continue in the competition.

He comes back feeling more free than stressed.

This is still far in the future, but it shows how people are now talking differently about McIlroy. Instead of focusing on what he didn't have, they are talking about what more he can do.

Scheffler said on Tuesday, "I don't know what it's like to be asked about winning all the major tournaments, but I understand a little about being asked, 'You did this, but you didn't do that.' This can sometimes be difficult for people."

Brad Faxon, a friend who helps McIlroy with his putting, thinks that nothing can stop McIlroy now and that he could win twice as many major tournaments. Faxon said, "He could easily win ten."

Famous golfers Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus thought that young Tiger Woods could win 10 green jackets, which was as many as they had won together. Woods won five of them.

Before McIlroy won his first major tournament, the 2011 U.S. Open, Padraig Harrington said, 'If you're talking about someone who could break Jack's record, that's him.'

Nicklaus is considered the best in golf with 18 major wins. McIlroy now has five, which is the same number as Brooks Koepka, and ten less than Woods.

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

However, this was difficult for McIlroy, not just on Sunday, but over the past 16 years. It had been 11 years since he won a major tournament. Winning the Masters was his dream, but in 16 attempts, McIlroy only had a real chance to win on the final nine holes two times.

Players like Greg Norman, Tom Weiskopf, David Duval, and Ken Venturi had more difficult experiences.

Two years ago, McIlroy said he would have many difficult Sundays to win another big tournament. He would have had even more difficult Sundays to win the Masters, especially because it was so important to him.

McIlroy is now the sixth player to win all four major golf tournaments in his career, like Woods, Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan, and Gene Sarazen. However, only four of them truly won it in the way we understand it today, because the idea of winning all four majors didn't exist until Arnold Palmer named it in 1960.

Another player, Sarazen, won all four major championships at the Masters in 1935.

McIlroy is the only player who has won the final part of the Masters tournament. This tournament is very memorable because it is the only major tournament always played on the same golf course.

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

Sam Snead has won the PGA Tour 82 times, the same number as the current record holder. He didn't win this many because of the U.S. Open. Phil Mickelson has won more than McIlroy, but he hasn't won all four major championships, missing the U.S. Open.

Tom Watson won 39 times on the PGA Tour and eight major tournaments. Some people say Palmer is the most important person in modern golf. But neither of them ever won the PGA Championship.

McIlroy started to think he might be one of those players who were good but didn't quite reach the top. Winning the Masters means he doesn't have to worry about that anymore. Now the question is how much more he can achieve.