He will be 36 next month and thinks he plays better now than 10 years ago. This seems true.

Rory McIlroy has been a professional golfer for 18 years. He has never won three times before May in his career. Now, he feels very relaxed when he plays. He is playing like he doesn't need to worry about winning. This feeling is not because of the money he has won this year. He has won $13.2 million from six games on the PGA Tour.

He won the Masters tournament. Now he is the champion.

Now he has a locker upstairs at Augusta National. A green jacket will always be there for him. He can also always go to the Masters Club dinner on Tuesday. He worked for 11 years to get this. It must feel amazing.

McIlroy looked tired but happy after winning. He said he felt happy very soon after that. You could see this happiness on his face when Scottie Scheffler helped him put on the green jacket.

What will we talk about next year? McIlroy asked.

Would next month be a good time for you?

He has won all the big tennis tournaments in his life. Now he can try to win them all in one year. The next big tournaments this year will be good for him.

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

Last summer, players had to imagine something. They were asked: If the best player could choose where the last game is, where would it be? McIlroy quickly said Quail Hollow.

The U.S. Open is at Oakmont. It's a long golf course for strong players. This course would be good for him. But last time he played there, he didn't play well on the first day because of rain, and he didn't play on the weekend.

The British Open is returning to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, which is Rory McIlroy's home. He has something to prove there after his last performance. Last time at Portrush, he had high hopes, but his first shot went out of bounds. He ended up with a score of 8 on that hole and missed the cut for the tournament.

He feels more free than stressed when he comes back.

That is far away in the future, but it shows how people are talking about McIlroy now. They are talking about what he can still achieve, not what he was missing.

Scheffler said on Tuesday that he understands a little how it feels when people ask you about something you haven't done yet, even if you have done other good things. He said it can be difficult for people sometimes.

Brad Faxon, a friend who helps McIlroy with putting, said McIlroy can win many more big golf events, maybe 10 in total.

Famous golfers Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus thought young Tiger Woods could win 10 green jackets. This was the same number they won together. Tiger won 5.

In 2011, Rory McIlroy was about to win a big golf tournament. Another player said Rory might be the one to beat Jack Nicklaus's record.

Nicklaus has the most wins in golf with 18 big tournaments. McIlroy now has five wins, the same number as Brooks Koepka. This is 10 less than Woods.

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

Winning was hard for him, not just on Sunday but for the last 16 years. He had not won a big tournament for 11 years. He really wanted to win the Masters, but he only had a good chance to win two times in his past 16 tries.

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

McIlroy said two years ago he would have many Sundays like that to win another big tournament. He would have had even more Sundays to win the Masters, because it was very important.

McIlroy is now the sixth player to win all four big golf tournaments. The other players are Woods, Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan, and Gene Sarazen. But only four of them won in the same way players do now. This is because winning all four tournaments like this was not an idea until 1960 when Arnold Palmer said it was important.

Only one other player, Sarazen, won the slam at the Masters. He did this in 1935. The event was different then. It was called the Augusta National Invitation Tournament. They didn't give green jackets until 1949. The special dinner on Tuesday also started later, in 1952.

McIlroy is the only player who won the last part at the Masters. This tournament is special because it is always in the same place, and people remember it well.

To understand how great this success is, think about the famous golfers he is now like, and also think about the great golfers who are not considered as good.

Sam Snead has won 82 times on the PGA Tour. This is the most wins ever. But he never won the U.S. Open. Phil Mickelson has won many important golf games, more than McIlroy. But Phil has also never won the U.S. Open.

Tom Watson won 39 times on the PGA Tour and won eight big tournaments. Many people think 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 a good player but not a great one. Winning the Masters helps him feel better about this. Now, we can see how much more he can achieve.