Tiger Woods is utterly convinced that Rory McIlroy will win the Masters and complete the career grand slam.
Whether it is this week or in years to come, the man who owns five Green Jackets himself does not doubt that his Northern Irish pal will join him in the Champion’s locker room at Augusta National one day.
No matter what backdrop exists in the professional golf landscape, be it the divide between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf or the perceived tension between the respective tour’s superstars, the prospect of McIlroy winning the Masters is an ever-present theme and it always will be until he does it.
He has won The Open, the PGA Championship twice and the US Open. Despite his age and the substantial future he has ahead, it feels like an eternity that Woods, Nicklaus, Player, Hogan and Sarazen have waited for McIlroy to join them in the club of the only players that have ticked all four of golf’s biggest boxes.
“No question, he’ll do it at some point. He’s just – Rory’s too talented, too good,” Woods said on Tuesday as he prepares to play in the Masters for the 26th time.
“He’s going to be playing this event for a very long time. He’ll get it done. It’s just a matter of when. But, yes, I think that Rory will be a great Masters champion one day, and it could be this week. You never know.
“I just think that just, again, the talent that he has, the way he plays game and the golf course fits his eye, it’s just a matter of time.”
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Rory McIlroy: Tiger Woods’ words are ‘flattering’
Shortly after Woods spoke to the media at Augusta National, it was McIlroy’s turn to answer some questions and he was asked about the remarks of Woods, his business partner with whom he has masterminded the new TGL Golf league which kicks off in January 2025.
“It’s flattering. It’s nice to hear, in my opinion, the best player ever to play the game say something like that. So, yeah, I mean, does that mean that it’s going to happen? Obviously not,” McIlroy said.
“But he’s been around the game long enough to know that I at least have the potential to do it. I know I’ve got the potential to do it too. It’s not as if I haven’t been a pretty good player for the last couple of decades.
“It’s nice to hear it when it comes out of his mouth.”
McIlroy’s record at the Masters suggests that a victory is just around the corner. Since his debut in 2009, he has made the top 10 on seven occasions. His best finish was runner-up behind Scottie Scheffler in 2022 but this was very much of the backdoor nature as the American romped to a comfortable victory.
Perhaps the scars from his collapse in 2011 still exist. Even golf fans, let alone the man in the thick of the story, cannot erase that infamous Sunday afternoon from their minds when McIlroy looked like the champion-elect before playing holes 10, 11 and 12 in six-over-par.
He entered the final round in 2018 three shots behind Patrick Reed but faltered to a two-over-par 74 which eliminated any chance of toppling the American who went on to win what is still his sole major championship triumph.
Last year’s missed cut proved an anti-climax and another disappointment for McIlroy down Magnolia Lane, but 2024 is a new year and a fresh opportunity for the 34-year-old to become a golf immortal.
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