Rory McIlroy is now one of the six best golfers ever, and he should be very happy about this.

But McIlroy still has many good things to do in his career.

Next month he will be 36 years old. He thinks he plays better now than when he was 26. It is difficult to say he is wrong.

Rory McIlroy has played golf for 18 years. He has never won three times before May in these years. Now, he feels very free when he plays. This feeling is not because of the money he has won this year.

He achieved victory in the prestigious Masters tournament.

Now he has a locker upstairs in the Augusta National clubhouse. A size 38 green jacket will be there for him forever. He can also sit at the table for the Masters Club dinner on Tuesday nights. It took him 11 years to do this. He must feel very happy.

When McIlroy won, he put his head down on the grass and breathed heavily. He felt very relieved. He said he felt happy soon after, and you could see this on his face when Scottie Scheffler helped him put on the green jacket.

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

Would it be possible to schedule it for next month?

He has won all the big tennis tournaments now. Can he win them all in one year? The other big tournaments this year look good for him.

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

He was one of the players who answered a fun question last summer. If the best player could choose where to have the last tournament, where would it be? McIlroy chose Quail Hollow right away.

The U.S. Open golf event is at Oakmont. This course is good for players who hit the ball a long way, which is good for him. But the last time he played there, he had a bad first round and did not play at the weekend.

The British Open golf tournament is back in Northern Ireland, which is Rory McIlroy's home. He wants to do well there. Last time he played at Portrush, he hoped to do well, but his first shot went outside the playing area. He got a score of 8 on that hole and did not play in the rest of the tournament.

He feels more free than stressed when he comes back.

That will happen later, but it shows how people talk about McIlroy now. They talk about what he can still get, not what he didn't have.

Scheffler said he doesn't know how it feels to be asked about winning all the big golf tournaments. But he understands a little how it feels to be asked, 'You did one thing, but not another.' He said this can make people feel tired sometimes.

Brad Faxon, a friend who helps McIlroy with putting, said that McIlroy could win many more big golf games, maybe 10.

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

Padraig Harrington said that McIlroy could try to beat Jack Nicklaus's record.

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

It's easy to get excited. This Masters is like some of the most famous 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, not just on Sunday, but for the last 16 years. He had not won a big championship for 11 years. He really wanted to win the Masters, but he only had a good chance to win on the last nine holes two times in his 16 tries.

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

McIlroy said he would have many hard days to win a big golf game again. He would have even more hard days to win the Masters game, especially because it was very important to him.

McIlroy is the sixth player to win the four main golf tournaments. Before 1960, winning all four was not seen as a special achievement.

Only one other player, Sarazen, won the slam at the Masters before. This was in 1935. The event was new then and had a different name: the Augusta National Invitation Tournament. They didn't give green jackets to winners until 1949. The special dinner for winners on Tuesday started in 1952.

McIlroy is the only player to finish the last part at the Masters. The Masters is special because it is always at the same place.

To see how great this success is, think about the famous golfers who are in this top group with him, and also the famous golfers who are not there.

Sam Snead has won 82 PGA Tour games. This is the most wins ever, the same as one other player. But Sam Snead has never won the U.S. Open. Phil Mickelson has won more games than McIlroy. But Phil Mickelson has also never won the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open is one of the four big golf tournaments called the Grand Slam.

Tom Watson won 39 times on the PGA Tour and won eight big tournaments. Many people think Arnold Palmer had the biggest effect on golf today. But neither of them ever won the PGA Championship.

McIlroy started to think if he would be one of the good players who never won the Masters. Winning the Masters makes him feel better about this. Now we will see how much more he can do.