After completing the career Grand Slam by winning the Masters Tournament, it’s hard to imagine what the next milestone in Rory McIlroy’s career might be. Iconic golf broadcaster Jim Nantz has a bold, but not impossible, answer.
Nantz is certain that McIlroy is on the right path to accomplishing something that not even Tiger Woods did during his best years in professional golf:
“I was trying to think of what would be anything that could happen the rest of his career that would ever approach what he had to have felt on Sunday at Augusta,” Nantz said, according to The Mirror.
“There’s only one thing that could ever happen, and that would be Sunday at Royal Portrush going for the calendar slam. That’s it.”
“And I still don’t think it’s the same pressure, believe it or not. I really don’t. His resume and his legacy has been cemented. Now he can go out and play with total freedom. It’s exciting. It really lines up well.”
Nantz did not overlook the venues that will host the next three majors of the season. The PGA Championship will be played at Quail Hollow, where McIlroy has had numerous successes, and the Open Championship will be played at Royal Portrush in his native Northern Ireland.
“I can’t speak to what [2025 US Open site] Oakmont really looks like for him, but can you imagine just going for the third one after knocking off the first two? Completely conceivable. I don’t put anything past him.”
Besting the Career Grand Slam
Only six players, including McIlroy, have completed the career Grand Slam (winning each of the four major championships at least once in their career), and none of them have won all four in the same year.
The closest was Tiger Woods, who won all four in succession but in different years (PGA Championship, US Open and Open Championship in 2000 and the Masters Tournament in 2001). This is such an extraordinary feat that it is known as the “Tiger Slam”.
There is also the case of the no less legendary Bobby Jones, who won the four major championships in 1930. In his case, however, a historical distinction is made because the tournaments considered major championships at the time were others than now (US Open, Open Championship, US Amateur, British Amateur).
A few months ago, the now 36-year-old Rory McIlroy talked about the goals he had set himself for the rest of his career, mentioning completing the career Grand Slam (checked), winning an Olympic medal and winning another Ryder Cup on American soil. He didn’t even mention the season Grand Slam, which is not surprising since no one has ever done it.
However, in the heat of his victory at Augusta National Golf Club, McIlroy did not rule out the possibility of challenging for the title at the season’s other three majors:
“You can’t win all four majors in a year if you haven’t won the first one,” McIlroy tod Sky Sports.
The truth is, McIlroy is one of the top favorites to win the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, a course that Jordan Spieth recently dubbed “Rory McIlroy Country Club” (the joke is self-explanatory). If that prediction comes true, who knows what might happen at Oakmont and Royal Portrush.
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