Rory McIlroy eyes Masters, career grand slam, Jack Nicklaus’ major mark

“I’m 25, and realistically I have 15 more years at the top of my game,” McIlroy told James Corrigan last week, four days removed from winning the Open Championship, about how he could smash the mother of all golf records. “That’s 60 chances or so. And since the 2011 U.S. Open, I’ve won three in 14 majors. As everybody knows I’ve had some up and downs in that time, but I would have taken that return. Jeez, would I? That’s nearly one a year -- and I can add up, you know.”

Despite allowing himself that moment of crystal-ball gazing and acknowledging that his game, health and mental approach were more solid than ever, McIlroy has his sights set on a more concrete and immediate goal: becoming only the sixth golfer in history to complete the career grand slam.

He’s so serious about that aim, in fact that the newly crowned British Open champion called a premature halt to his victory celebrations so he could get back to preparing for next month’s PGA Championship on his way to going for his first green jacket at Augusta in April.

A week ago Sunday, McIlroy joined a select club comprised of just Nicklaus and Woods when he became one of three players to win three majors before turning 26. And it’s not as if the eligible bachelor, who has been seen in the company of at least two models since breaking up with ex-fiancee Caroline Wozniacki, retreated immediately to a monastery following his two-shot victory at Hoylake on Sunday.

For sure, partying with the Jagermeister-filled claret jug and chugging some bubbly at a Liverpool nightclub followed his triumph at Royal Liverpool. By Wednesday, however, McIlroy was back in the gym tuning his body ahead of this week’s Firestone tilt and the season’s final major at Valhalla seven days later:

It’s the Masters, though, on which Woods’ Nike teammate and presumptive heir apparent has his sights set.

“Only five players have done the career grand slam in history? That’s an immense thing to aim for and I still can’t believe I’ll be going in at 25 with a chance,” said McIlroy, who will be 26 in May. “For me it’ll always be all about the majors.

“In the Tiger era, their importance has become massive,” McIlroy noted. “They’re the storyline, they’re the narrative: ‘How many majors have you won?’ not ‘How many tournaments have you won?’ It’s what defines you and the great thing about golf is that there are always historic marks to chase.”

While McIlroy has major glory on his mind, he had another, more personal, reason for cutting the party short.

“It was the first time I’d ever been in a nightclub with my parents,” he said, “and it was a bit surreal and weird.”