Rory McIlroy achieved one of the biggest accomplishments in golf when he completed the career Grand Slam with his dramatic victory at The Masters, thus becoming just the sixth player ever to do so.
But what does he need to do to reach his goal of being the best European player ever? Is winning the career Grand Slam enough? And what else does he need to do before hanging up his professional golf spikes?
“I'm a European player. I would like to go down as the most successful European of all time,” McIroy said at last year's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, where he was staring down the opportunity to win a sixth Race to Dubai (money) title, which he accomplished.
“Obviously, Race to Dubai wins would count to that, but also major championships, and hopefully I've got a few more Ryder Cups ahead of me as well.”
By winning that sixth Order of Merit title on the DP World Tour last fall, McIlroy tied Seve Ballesteros for the second-most all-time. Colin Montgomerie leads the way with eight, and to be considered the best European player, Rory may need to at least tie Monty, if not add another.
“I've come this far, I might as well try and get to eight or nine,” he said last fall.
McIlroy added that over the next 10 years, he thought it was doable. Montgomerie’s record could stand for a while, with many of the best Europeans now spending a lot of their time on the PGA Tour.
Then there is the measure of majors. Harry Vardon has the most of all European players with seven, winning six Open Championship titles and one U. S. Open. Nick Faldo has the second-most with six, owning three Masters titles and three British Opens. After that, with five each, are Seve and Rory.
Faldo was highly complementary of McIlroy’s career Grand Slam, and even went as far to say that Rory is in the top five on the all-time list of great players.
“He’s done way more than me. He’s won 29 times in America,” Faldo told The Times. “Of the all-time greats, I’d put him fifth. Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack (Nicklaus), and Tiger (Woods). Rory is right there.”
Faldo has 30 career victories on the DP World Tour. McIlroy gets credit for 19, but some victories count on both tours, such as past World Golf Championships, as well as all four major championships.
The all-time leader is still Ballesteros, with 50, and Bernhard Langer is second with 42. Tiger Woods has 41, many of which are dual tour titles (like his 15 majors, for instance). Colin Montgomerie has 31, all of which were DP World Tour events.
Would McIlroy want to devote himself to breaking Ballesteros’ mark of 50? Or would he rather work on getting more PGA Tour titles? We don’t know the answer to that.
For now, he’s a new category of European golfer because no European has been as successful in the U.S. as McIlroy. On the PGA Tour, he’s in 18th place all-time with 29 victories, tied with Lee Trevino and Gene Littler.
It’s not inconceivable that he could win another 10 titles, perhaps even in just the next few years, given the way he's been playing.
Then there are some other golf trophies that McIlroy has changed his mind about.
When he first qualified for the Olympics when golf returned in 2016, he didn’t go. He did go to Tokyo in 2021 and nearly found the podium, losing a seven-way playoff for the bronze medal.
More recently, in Rome last year, McIlroy tied for fifth, finishing four back of gold medalist Scottie Scheffler and two behind bronze medalist Hideki Matsuyama. Seemingly not overly enthused about Olympic golf, Rory now wishes he had one of those medals and has made it one of his career goals before he retires.
His next chance is in three years at the 2028 games in Los Angeles. He'll be 38 then and will face competition from younger, perhaps stronger, and wilier players.
But the course, which he has seldom played because he was often in the Middle East playing DP World Tour events, will be Riviera Country Club. And so, if he has any sense, he will start playing The Genesis Invitational to get used to it and the strange kikuyu grass it has. It might be his last best chance to medal.
Olympic golf is not the only golf event McIlroy looked down on before playing it. He felt the same way about the Ryder Cup as a youngster and changed his tune when he started playing in them. He’s now been on seven Ryder Cup teams, with the next one this fall set to be his eighth.
Now, more than anything, he wants to win another Ryder Cup on U.S. soil, just as he helped Team Europe to victory back in 2012 at Medinah.
“I feel like winning an away Ryder Cup is one of the toughest things to do in golf at the minute,” he said, again at Pebble Beach.
So, there are two or three events on his semi-immediate radar.
If he never wins another title after The Masters, which is highly unlikely, Rory McIlroy will go down as one of the golf greats from Europe. And in the years to come, he may just be mentioned as the greatest European golfer of all time.