Tiger Woods has been somewhat of a mentor to Rory McIlroy throughout the years.
McIlroy finally emulated his golfing hero by completing the Grand Slam when he won The Masters last month.
Woods is still 10 major wins ahead of the 35-year-old Northern Irishman, but the 2025 Masters champion will be determined to close that gap significantly over the next few years.
Last year, Woods predicted that McIlroy would win The Masters, and he was obviously proven right.
Butch Harmon said McIlroy’s Masters win was more dramatic than anything Woods ever did at Augusta, and although that was a really bold claim, it’s hard to argue with it.
Tiger Woods congratulated Rory McIlroy after he won The Masters
The golf on display on Sunday at The Masters this year was truly electric from start from finish.
McIlroy seemingly had the tournament wrapped up on numerous occasions before trying his best to throw it away almost every single time.
When he holed the putt to defeat Justin Rose in the play-off on the 18th green at Augusta National, his emotions got the better of him as he collapsed to the floor in sheer relief.
Fans of McIlroy were delighted to see him finally win The Masters at the 17th time of trying.
And the Northern Irishman lifted the lid on how Elton John congratulated him after his memorable victory.
McIlroy said, “I was sort of overwhelmed with the people who reached out from all walks of life. Culture, entertainment. But the ones who got me was Sir Elton John. That was incredible. So I actually haven’t been able to connect with him, so his assistant left me a voicemail and said Sir Elton would love to congratulate you in person. The only problem is that he doesn’t have a cell phone. So you might get a call from a number in Windsor, England, from a landline but we haven’t been able to connect so I would love to be able to reach out. It’s Elton John! I didn’t even know Elton John knew what golf was.
“So I am super humbled. The amount of people who have reached out has been really cool.“
He then lifted the lid on the message that Woods sent him following his play-off win at Augusta.
The 35-year-old said, “He said, ‘welcome to the club, kid’. Which was just so good. There are six people ever who have achieved the career grand slam in golf, there is only four of us who are living. Gary Player is 90 years old, Jack is 85 or 86. And Tiger and myself. So it’s really cool to be a part of.“
It must have been so cool for McIlroy to have received a message like that from someone who is widely regarded to be one of the best two players in the history of the game.
McIlroy said to have done something ‘ridiculous’ at The Masters
Some of the shots the five-time major champion hit on Sunday at The Masters were truly awe-inspiring.
The one that sticks out in everyone’s head though was his second shot into the par-five 15th.
McIlroy was seemingly blocked out behind the imposing Georgia Pines with more than 200 yards left into the green.
However, he hit a towering, sweeping draw around the trees, pitched his ball on the front of the green and rolled it up to around six or seven feet.
It was a remarkable display of producing the goods under what was the most intense pressure imaginable.
Rooco Mediate described the shot McIlroy hit at the 15th on Masters Sunday as ‘ridiculous’, “Yeh, in history, it was genius, absolute genius. One thing cool about Augusta is everybody knows the golf course. They see it on TV every year, it’s the coolest place ever. You know where he was on 15 because you’ve watched it on TV a million times, so cool. It was impossible, how about the sound it made, like he shot it out of a gun, it was ridiculous.”
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