With six countenances now etched into the granite of golf's Mount Rushmore, Rory McIlroy can rightfully feel he has attained the sport's ultimate zenith.

Indeed, the trajectory of McIlroy's career is poised to unfold with a wealth of further accomplishments.

Approaching his thirty-sixth birthday next month, he maintains the conviction that his playing ability surpasses that of a decade prior, a contention for which there is a dearth of countervailing evidence.

In his 18-year career on the professional circuit — a span encompassing half his life as a touring golfer — McIlroy had never achieved a hat-trick of victories prior to the advent of May. He has never experienced such an unfettered sense of liberty. He is operating with what could be termed 'house money,' and this bears no relation whatsoever to the formidable sum of $13.2 million he has already amassed this year from his mere six starts on the PGA Tour.

He currently holds the prestigious title of Masters champion, a position he has occupied with remarkable self-possession.

Henceforth, he is accorded a permanent locker in the Augusta National clubhouse, wherein a bespoke size 38 green jacket awaits his perennial claim, along with an enduring invitation to the prestigious Masters Club dinner on Tuesday evenings, a culmination of a decade-long endeavour, undoubtedly an ineffable sensation.

The palpable undulation of McIlroy's chest as he succumbed to the verdant embrace of the 18th green post-victory was a stark manifestation of sheer relief.

"What are we all going to discourse upon ad annum?" McIlroy posited, initially within the confines of Butler Cabin and subsequently as a preamble to his press conference. That is the latitude he apprehends.

Might we contemplate the feasibility of the ensuing month?

With the career Grand Slam now irrevocably etched into history, premature contemplation of a calendar iteration of the Grand Slam appears entirely justifiable, particularly given the propitious alignment of the remaining major championships this year with his formidable capabilities.

The PGA Championship, scheduled for the ensuing month, is poised to unfold at Quail Hollow, a venue where McIlroy has already indelibly inscribed his name onto the ledger of triumph on four separate occasions.

Within a discourse amongst competitors queried hypothetically this past summer, the prompt posited that should the FedEx Cup's paramount contender be afforded unilateral discretion regarding the Tour Championship's venue, their selection was desired. McIlroy's immediate and unwavering response designated Quail Hollow.

The U.S. Open's sojourn at Oakmont, a course of formidable proportions favouring the prodigious driver, would ostensibly accord with his capabilities as well as any competitor, notwithstanding his previous outing there, where a rain-induced two-day opening round culminated in a score of 77 and subsequent premature departure from the championship.

The British Open's reappearance at Royal Portrush, situated on McIlroy's autochthonous Northern Irish soil, presents an opportunity for him to rectify a previous ignominious performance. The last staging at Portrush witnessed McIlroy, burdened by exorbitant personal aspirations, launch his initial drive beyond the permissible confines, resulting in a calamitous octuple-bogey and ultimately precluding his participation in the latter stages of the tournament.

He returns with greater latitude than encumbrance.

While such developments remain distant, they serve as an illustration of the profound shift in the discourse surrounding McIlroy, which has transitioned from an examination of his deficiencies to an exploration of his potential acquisitions.

Scheffler, present alongside him in Butler Cabin and throughout the trophy conferral, proffered this insight Tuesday: "I lack the comprehension of the exigencies inherent in queries regarding the career Grand Slam, yet I possess a rudimentary grasp of the pressures associated with inquiries that juxtapose an achievement with an unfulfilled objective. This can, at times, prove exceedingly draining for individuals."

Brad Faxon, an intimate associate who collaborates with McIlroy on the mechanics of his putting, intimated that no insurmountable obstacles now impede McIlroy's trajectory and posited that he could potentially augment his tally of major championships tenfold. "He is capable of accruing up to ten," Faxon averred.

Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, titans of the sport, once posited that a nascent Tiger Woods possessed the foundational elements requisite to secure ten Green Jackets, a tally equivalent to their combined aggregate. Woods ultimately attained half that number.

Approaching the denouement of the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional, with 18 holes yet to be contested before potentially clinching his maiden major championship, Rory McIlroy was the subject of Padraig Harrington's prescient pronouncement: "If one is to postulate a challenger to Jack's dominion, behold the individual."

Possessing an eighteen-major tally, Nicklaus established the benchmark of supremacy in golf; a benchmark towards which McIlroy, with his five majors, matching Brooks Koepka and ten shy of Woods, now aspires.

The inherent fervour surrounding such events can be overwhelmingly captivating; this particular Masters tournament unequivocally merits inclusion amongst the most illustrious epochs in Augusta National's storied history, alongside the indelible performances of Woods in 2019, 2001, and 1997, Nicklaus's triumphs in 1986 and 1975, and Arnold Palmer's iconic victory in 1960.

Yet, this proved an arduous undertaking for McIlroy, neither on Sunday nor throughout the preceding sixteen years. Eleven years had elapsed since his last major victory, and while securing the Masters title represented his paramount aspiration, on only two occasions out of sixteen previous attempts did McIlroy approach the back nine with a substantive prospect of triumph.

Evincing far greater haunt were luminaries such as Greg Norman, Tom Weiskopf, David Duval, and Ken Venturi, all of whom had accumulated a more significant burden of psychic scar tissue.

McIlroy, reflecting two years hence on his near-triumph at the U.S. Open, avowed he would readily endure "100 Sundays such as that" in pursuit of another major; he would, unequivocally, have undergone a millennium of Sundays to don the coveted green jacket, particularly given the confluence of high stakes.

McIlroy's induction into the exclusive cadre of golfers who have achieved the career Grand Slam places him alongside a pantheon of legends: Woods, Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan, and Gene Sarazen. However, a nuanced historical perspective reveals that only four of these luminaries can be unequivocally said to have "conquered" the career slam in its contemporary conceptualisation, as this benchmark remained largely undefined until Arnold Palmer's pivotal declaration in 1960.

Sarazen alone had earlier consummated a career slam at the Masters in 1935, its sophomore iteration, when the event was yet to acquire its present nomenclature and was officially designated the Augusta National Invitation Tournament; green jackets were not bestowed until 1949, and the ceremonial Masters Club dinner, held on Tuesday evening, was inaugurated only in 1952.

McIlroy stands alone as the sole competitor to clinch the final stage at the Masters, a tournament singularly imbued with the most potent historical resonance given its distinction as the only major perpetually hosted at the same venue, underscoring the extraordinary calibre of this achievement.

To appraise the magnitude of this achievement necessitates not merely surveying those luminaries alongside whom he now stands, but also scrutinising the notable absences from the pantheon of golfing icons.

Sam Snead's impressive tally of 82 career victories, a record on the PGA Tour, remains undiminished by his inability to secure a U.S. Open title, a singular lacuna that likewise differentiates Phil Mickelson's extensive accomplishments from Rory McIlroy's, where the U.S. Open represents the solitary unobtained component of the career Grand Slam for both players.

Tom Watson, with a career punctuated by 39 PGA Tour victories including eight majors, and Arnold Palmer, arguably the most seismic force in the evolution of modern golf, conspicuously share the distinction of never having claimed the PGA Championship title.

McIlroy's contemplation of his legacy, marked by a gnawing sense of being perpetually on the cusp of greatness, would be unequivocally dispelled by a Masters victory; the pivotal question then pivots to the unbounded trajectory of his future achievements.