"I'm not putting a number on it, but I certainly don't want to stop here" — McIlroy eyes more Major glory

Masters champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland speaks to members of the media following his victory in the final round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Sunday, April 12, 2026.

Rory McIlroy looks like a runaway juggernaut in the wake of his sixth Major win and he insisted last night that he has no plans to stop now as he looks to become the greatest European golfer of all time.

The Co Down man's second successive Masters win saw him join elite company alongside Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods with another decade of elite golf ahead of him.

Given his age, his talent and the way he aggressively cruised through Amen Corner to hide from his rivals, the 36-year-old exudes the confidence of a man who suspects that there's still a lot left in the tank.

"I said at the start of the weekend here, I felt like the Grand Slam was the destination, and I realised it wasn't," he said of what made his second Masters win different to the first.

"I'm on this journey to -- I don't know, I just won my sixth Major, and I feel like I'm in a really good spot with my game and my body.

"I don't want to put a number on it, but I feel like this win is just -- I don't want to say a stop on the journey — but yeah, it's just a part of the journey. I still have things I want to achieve, but I still want to enjoy it as well."

After matching Faldo, he just wants to keep on winning and it would be foolish to bet against him going past Jersey's Harry Vardon, who won his seventh Major in 1914.

"Like today I tie Nick, so yeah, there's obviously going to be that conversation, and that debate is going to be heard," he said of journey to become Europe's greatest ever golfer.

"But it's a cool conversation to be a part of.

"Again, it took me 10 years to win my fifth Major, and then my sixth one's come pretty soon after it.

"I'm not putting a number on it, but I certainly don't want to stop here.”

Of course, it was never going to be a walk in the park.

"Never a dull moment,” Irishman John Carr, a member of Augusta National, quipped when McIlroy walked off the 18th after surviving a heart-stopping moment that could have cost him the title.

He had a two-stroke lead heading to the 72nd tee but hit a wild slice into the trees that left him wondering if he'd have trouble making the bogey he needed to win.

"I'd say walking off the 18th tee not knowing where my ball was," he said of what he considered the most stressful moment of an unforgettable day.

"I think that was the moment of greatest stress. It could go anywhere. It could be anywhere."
The other key moment came at the 11th, where he had a 60-footer for birdie but came up seven feet short while leading by one, then nervelessly knocked in the par putt.

"I thought my second putt on 11 was huge to avoid making bogey there," he said. "That green, I felt, was a lot slower than the rest of the greens this week, just because it was new.

"Cam and I both left our putts short there, but I held a really good second putt, which was a big point in the day, I felt."

After racing into a record six-shot lead through 36 holes, it might have been tempting for McIlroy to think that winning the Masters again, having broken his hoodoo last year, was going to be easier.

"I thought it was so difficult to win last year because of trying to win the Masters and the Grand Slam, and then this year I realised it's just really difficult to win the Masters," he joked. "I tried to convince myself it was both.
"Yeah, just incredible. I obviously did the bulk of my work on Thursday and Friday. I don't think I would have believed anyone if they said to me all you have to do is shoot even-par for the weekend and you'll win."

His Saturday night range session helped him iron out some problems with his irons, but when it came down to it, it was his chipping and putting that got him over the line.

"The up-and-down on 16 and the up-and-down on 17 were huge," he said of the pars that helped him maintain a cushion he'd worked hard to build.

"Once I got that ball up-and-down from the back of 16, I just said to myself on 17 tee, I just need four more good swings. I made one (laughter). But somehow I got it done."

It was never easy after his double bogey at the fourth and bogey at the sixth left him two shots behind Young

at the time. But he remained patient and birdied the seventh, eighth, 12th and 13th to ease clear.

"Yeah, just absolutely delighted to be able to get it done," he said. "Having a six-shot lead going into the weekend, it would have been a bitter pill to swallow if I wasn't able to get myself over the finish line."

He hit many key shots, but none more crucial than his nine-iron to eight feet at the treacherous 12th, which he credited to a practice round with fellow two-time Masters champion Tom Watson on his 2009 debut.

"He said to me on the 12th tee, he always waited until he felt where the wind should be and then just hit it," he said of the notorious swirling breeze. "You know, just hit it as soon as you can.

"That's what I did on 12. It was all over the place. When I stood up on the tee, it felt like it was off the right, and I looked at the 11th flag, it was blowing right to left.

"But I was patient, and I waited to feel where the wind should have been coming from, and I knew it was just a perfect three-quarter nine-iron.

"That was a really good golf shot at the right time and probably a golf shot I wouldn't have been able to hit yesterday if I didn't go to the range and try to figure a few things out and try to neutralise the ball flight a little bit.

"Yeah, absolutely huge, huge shot in the tournament."

He had his moments of good fortune, too, such as the lob wedge that almost came back into the water at the 15th.

But after all the years of suffering at Augusta National, he learned enough to know when to attack and when to play safe and allow his rivals to take chances to try and catch him.

He also had the composure and experience not to panic.

And a life lesson that he's learned at Augusta over the past 18 years?

"Good things come to those who wait, maybe,” he suggested. "Just keep going.”

He added: "Keep your head down and keep it going. If you put the hours in and work on the right things, eventually it will come good for you."