Only two European golfers have more major wins than Rory McIlroy. One of them, Sir Nick Faldo, has pondered what might be next for golf’s newest Grand Slam champion…
Sir Nick Faldo has told Rory McIlroy that defending his Masters title will be one of the hardest things he has ever done.
In 1990, Faldo became just the second player in Masters history to win the Green Jacket for a second year in a row. Jack Nicklaus did in in 1966, and only Tiger Woods – in 2002 – has gone on to do it since.
McIlroy’s victory in April was as emotionally charged as any of the 450 major championships that had preceded it, such was the Northern Irishman’s desperation to slip into our sport’s most famous item of clothing.
And Faldo, who added a third Masters title to win six majors overall, says McIlroy should temper expectations as he prepares to head down Magnolia Lane as the defending champion.
“It is like climbing Everest,” Faldo told the Belfast Telegraph. “You don’t turn around and say, ‘Let’s go up again next month!’ There was so much emotion at Augusta, and you cannot reproduce the emotion to win a major like that again.
“So I think it will be tough for Rory to win another one.”
Faldo is one of just two European players to have won more major championships than Rory McIlroy – Jersey-born Harry Vardon won seven – but, on that front, the Englishman is struggling to make a prediction.
“He’s either going to be disappointed that he’s won 10 or he is going to be ecstatic that he’s got to five,” Faldo said.