Masters 2026: Here’s where a second green jacket would vault Rory McIlroy on list of all-time greats
Winning a second straight Masters is far from a sure thing, but if it happens Sunday here is where our historian would move Rory McIlroy on his list.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — If Rory McIlroy wins this Masters, where will he rank among golf’s all-time greats? Specifically, will he break into the top 10 that unofficially serves as the sport’s pantheon?
When McIlroy completed the career Grand Slam by winning last year’s Masters, it gave him—at least on my admittedly, undeniably and absolutely subjective list—a powerful boost. I’d had him in the high teens before the victory and raised him to 12th afterward. Others may have felt that such a dramatic and popular victory was enough to get him top-10 status, if they hadn’t already counted him in.
It’s not a specious case. With the final round of the Masters still pending, McIlroy at age 36 has accumulated a distinguished body of work, with five major championships, 29 victories on the PGA Tour (including two Players Championships), 14 more on the DP World Tour and one Australian Open. He’s also been World No.
1 for 122 weeks over his career. But it’s the career Grand Slam itself that most elevates him into all-time territory. The top four players on most lists—Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Ben Hogan and Bobby Jones—have all achieved the feat, with Jones given credit for completing the original calendar slam in 1930, consisting of the U.
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