Rory McIlroy is now a five-time major champion, after his thrilling victory at The Masters last month.
But will McIlroy be able to win multiple more majors and close the gap on Tiger Woods?
Many PGA Tour pros believe that McIlroy will be freed up to add more majors to his tally now, after his win at The Masters.
He certainly hasn’t got the burden of trying to win at Augusta National to complete the Grand Slam anymore.
McIlroy said his mental strength enabled him to win The Masters, and now it would surprise nobody if he went on a real tear by winning more and more of golf’s premier prizes.
That certainly won’t be an easy thing to do, with the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau playing some exceptional golf right now.
However, the 35-year-old from Holywood, Northern Ireland doesn’t have to do anything more in the game in order to achieve legendary status.
And that should enable him to approach each event with a real care-free attitude.
Rory McIlroy’s chances of winning more majors and emulating Tiger Woods
Ask anyone involved in golf journalism about Michael Bamberger and most will say he is one of the greatest to ever do it.
It could even be argued that he is the greatest living golf writer, so when he speaks, it’s inevitable that golf fans will listen.
He was a guest on the Dan on Golf podcast, and delivered a really interesting take on McIlroy’s chances of winning more majors.
Bamberger went completely against the common train of thought by suggesting that the Northern Irishman winning multiple more majors may not be a cake-walk.
He said, “Well, why? Why does everyone think he will suddenly go crazy and win all of these majors? My point about Rory, and I’ve been writing about him since he was 19 and I have enormous admiration for him, and what he’s done in the game, is that guys who’ve gone on runs, Hogan, Nicklaus, Tiger of course, are demonstrably better than the field, he’s not. He’s just really great, along with a half dozen other guys. Over the next five years, it’s not likely he will get better at golf, other guys probably will get better at golf. He should keep contending and some of the times when he contends he should win. But does that mean he will go from five to nine? I don’t think so?“
Woods won 15 majors throughout his career, and he was certainly the dominant force in golf for more than a decade.
Whilst McIlroy probably won’t get near Woods’ major tally, he will surely considerably close the gap before his time in the game is done.
The point Bamberger is missing about McIlroy
Bamberger was spot on when he said that McIlroy isn’t demonstrably better than the rest of the field.
It could be argued that he and Scheffler are on another level to the rest, but he’s not as dominant as Woods was in his prime.
However, the key point with the Northern Irishman is that after he got the monkey off his back by winning at Augusta, he hasn’t actually got anything left to prove.
If he does get into contention in majors again, he definitely won’t feel the pressure like he did over the past 11 years during final rounds, especially not at Augusta National.
I have no doubts that Mcilroy will go on to win at least three more majors, and I wouldn’t be surprised whatsoever to see him end up in double figures by the time he retires.
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