What’s ahead for Rory after his second Master’s title?

It’s different now for Rory McIlroy. And for so many of us. We kept wondering if he would ever win a Masters. Now we wonder how many Masters or other major championships he might win.

Check the list of men who have won golf’s big ones, people such as Jack Nicklaus, whose total of 18 never will be broken, Tiger Woods, and even from the past, Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan. 

Maybe it is silly to even mention Rory in the same sentence as those others. 

He’s far behind. But when Rory, Sunday, took a Masters for a 2nd straight year, which only three others have done, you begin to think of future possibilities. 

Yes, Tiger Woods has 15 majors, Gene Sarazen had seven, and the great Ben Hogan won nine. And there are others high on the list.

But McIlroy is only 36, and now that he has a short game to go with his long drives and wicked determination, who’s to say he couldn’t pick up two or three more titles?

McIlroy applied both his skill and his courage in capturing the 2026 Masters on Sunday, displaying the wonderfully impressive short game he has added to a repertoire that already made him one of the sport’s current stars. 

Rory offered a not-unusual blend of excellence and mistakes on the first nine with a double bogey on the fourth hole, a bogey on the sixth, and then birdies on the seventh and eighth. He ended up shooting a 1-under par 71 for a total of 12-under 276 and a one-shot victory over Scottie Scheffler, who came in with a four under 68. 

There was a four-way tie for third at 278 among Justin Rose (70), Tyrrell Hatton (66), Cameron Young (73), and Russell Henley (68). In the early going, Rose, 3 times a runner-up, including 2025, and Young, each briefly held the lead.

Anyone familiar with the Masters, including the competitors, knows how quickly things change. The pressure in this first major of every year seems to build through the winter to spring. 

“I thought it was so difficult to win last year,” was McIlroy’s assessment of trying to win the Masters and the Grand Slam, “and then this year I realized it’s just really difficult to win the Masters.” 

That’s because the course, remodeled in the 1950’s by the late Robert Trent Jones Sr., is wonderfully challenging, the competition is outstanding, and the history can be overwhelming.

Huge scoreboards that keep everyone informed and the booming roars of the fans (or as they are known here, patrons) create an atmosphere that is both unique and sometimes intimidating. And just the name, Masters, says all you need to know.

What you also need to know is that McIlroy now joins Nicklaus, Woods, and Nick Faldo as Masters winners in consecutive years.

McIlroy, from Northern Ireland, has never been shy with his words, opinions, or tee shots. He isn’t the next Tiger Woods—there won’t be another Tiger Woods—but McIlroy’s popularity is universal.

Asked at the end of his round the familiar, if somewhat bizarre, question—“What has golf taught you about life?”—he had the perfect answer: “Just keep going.”

That’s what Rory is doing, keeping going.