Rory McIlroy should feel he is one of the best golfers.

But McIlroy still has a lot of time to play.

He will be 36 next month. He thinks he plays better now than 10 years ago. Most people agree with him.

Rory McIlroy has been a professional golfer for 18 years. This is half of his life. He has never won three times before May in any year. Now, he feels very relaxed when he plays. He feels like he has nothing to lose. This feeling is not because of the money he has already won this year. He has won $13.2 million from only six games on the PGA Tour.

He won the Masters golf tournament, which is a very important competition.

He now has a locker upstairs in the Augusta National clubhouse. He will always have a size 38 green jacket there. He also gets a seat at the table for the Masters Club dinner every Tuesday night. It took him 11 years to do this. He must feel very happy about it.

When McIlroy won, he was breathing hard because he felt a lot of relief. He said he felt happy soon after, and you could see that on his face when Scottie Scheffler helped him put on the green jacket.

McIlroy asked, "What will we all talk about next year?" He said this in two places. This shows he feels free.

Perhaps we could consider doing it next month?

He has won all the big tennis tournaments in his life. Now, people are thinking if he can win all of them this year. The other big tournaments this year look good for him.

Next month, the PGA Championship is at Quail Hollow. McIlroy has won there four times.

Last summer, some players were asked a fun question. They were asked, 'If the best player could choose where the last game is played, where would it be?' McIlroy quickly said Quail Hollow.

The U.S. Open is at Oakmont. It's a long golf course that is good for players who hit the ball far. This might be good for him. But last time he played there, he scored 77 on the first day because it rained. He didn't play at the weekend.

The British Open is back at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, where Rory McIlroy is from. Rory wants to do better this time. Last time at Portrush, he hoped to do well, but he started badly. His first shot went outside the playing area, and he got a score of 8. He did not play well enough to stay in the tournament.

When he comes back, he feels more free than he feels pressure.

That is still far away, but it shows how people's ideas about McIlroy have changed. Before, they talked about what he didn't have, but now they talk about what more he can do.

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've done other great things.

Brad Faxon, a friend who helps McIlroy with putting, said McIlroy can win many more big tournaments. Faxon said, "He could win ten."

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

Before McIlroy won his first big competition in 2011, another player said, 'He is the person who can break Jack's record.'

Nicklaus is the best in golf with 18 big wins. McIlroy has five wins, the same number as Brooks Koepka. This is 10 fewer wins than Woods.

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

But this was hard for McIlroy. He didn't win easily, not on Sunday, and not in the 16 years before. It was 11 years since he won a big competition. He really wanted to win the Masters, but in 16 tries, he only had a real chance to win two times when he was near the end of the game.

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

McIlroy said two years ago that 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 very important.

McIlroy is now the sixth player to win all four big golf tournaments in his career. He joins famous players like Woods and Nicklaus. But only four of these players really won the 'career Grand Slam' like we understand it now. This is because winning all four tournaments in a career was not called a Grand Slam until Arnold Palmer used the name in 1960.

Only one other player won the slam at the Masters. This was Sarazen in 1935. That was only the second time the tournament happened, and it wasn't called the Masters then. He won the Augusta National Invitation Tournament. Players didn't get green jackets until 1949. The special dinner for players on Tuesday evening started in 1952.

McIlroy is the only player who finished the Masters last. This is special because the tournament is always in the same place.

To understand how important this is, think about the famous golfers he is now with, and also the great golfers who are not considered the best ever.

Sam Snead and another player have won 82 times on the PGA Tour. Phil Mickelson has won more than McIlroy, but they have not won the U.S. Open.

Tom Watson won 39 times on the PGA Tour, and he won eight big championships. Many people say Palmer changed modern golf the most. But neither of them won the PGA Championship.

McIlroy started to think he might be good but not the best. Winning the Masters helps him stop thinking like this. Now, we will see how much more he can do.