AUGUSTA — All those Rory McIlroy story lines can be put to bed now.
For 11 years, he hadn’t won a major. A Masters title had eluded him for even longer than that. Well, now he has a green jacket and doesn’t it feel like even more big titles could be coming?
That’s what the SI Golf Roundtable pondered Sunday night over the remaining pimento cheese sandwiches in the Augusta National press building:
Brian Giuffra, Minute Media VP of Betting Content: The simple answer is more. Definitely more. Gary Player has the most by a non-American player with nine. Harry Vardon has the most by a European with seven. Nick Faldo is generally considered the best European golfer ever and he has six. I’ll say more than Faldo and Vardon and less than Player. So let’s say eight … with another coming this year.
Bob Harig, SI Golf Senior Writer: The pressure is off now. There’s no reason why McIlroy can’t add a couple more majors and become the all-time best among European players, passing Nick Faldo’s six. Royal Portrush this summer seems like the perfect place to get to No. 6.
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John Pluym, SI.com Managing Editor: McIlroy is playing some of the best golf of his career, including his third win of 2025 on Sunday in the Masters. He also finally completed the Grand Slam, which should take a ton of pressure off. McIlroy wondered during his green jacket celebration in Butler Cabin what we’ll all talk about next year at Augusta National now that he’s won. Well, Rory, we’ll be talking about you winning back-to-back Masters. But that conversation can wait for a while. With all of that said, I like McIlroy to add one more Masters and four other majors. That should give him 10, which is very doable since he’s only 35 years old.
Jeff Ritter, SI Golf Managing Director: He might be playing the best golf of his career and the weight of both his major drought and the career slam have evaporated. He’s only 35, so with several more prime years left, I will take the “under” on another 11 years before his next major. I think he gets another jacket, plus a couple more to finish his career with eight, tied with Tom Watson.
Michael Rosenberg, SI Senior Writer: Five. I don’t believe that, actually, but he has five at the moment, and he doesn’t need us asking when he’ll win No. 6. (I do think winning this Masters means McIlroy will never feel more pressure to win a major than he has already overcome. He puts himself in contention as often as not. He will win … more.)
John Schwarb, SI Golf Senior Editor: The final round of the 2025 Masters is a pretty good Exhibit A for why winning majors is so darned hard, and can you imagine how much more scar tissue Rory McIlroy would be carrying if this one got away? O.K., now that the weight is gone I like him to carry the momentum immediately to Quail Hollow, one of his favorite PGA Tour playgrounds, and then grab four more to get to an even 10. That’s a big number that doesn’t sound as big anymore for the newest member of the Grand Slam club.
