'McIlroy in the conversation to be Europe's greatest golfer'

The clubhouse clock was ticking towards 11pm on the night of Rory McIlroy's greatest day in golf.

In the hours that followed his dramatic play-off win over Justin Rose to land his first Masters Green Jacket, the Northern Irishman talked and talked and talked.

First to CBS's Jim Nantz and Augusta chairman Fred Ridley in the Butler Cabin, then to the assembled members for the formal prize presentation. Then numerous television interviews, the media in the sumptuous press building.

Then to the clubhouse, where he joined club members in the Grill Room to discuss the dramatic preceding hours that had captivated the sporting world. And then more television interviews.

Eventually he emerged into an adjacent room where we had been waiting - BBC Northern Ireland's Stephen Watson and RTE's Greg Allen - colleagues with whom I've shared so much time covering McIlroy's extraordinary career.

As he entered the room, the new Masters champion saw us waiting, puffed out his cheeks, leaned forward resting his elbows on the back of a sofa and gave us a look that said it all.

Wordlessly his eyes said: "Can you believe what has happened? What is happening?"

The jacket was a perfect fit, a deeper green than you might imagine and in that moment came the realisation that he had actually done it. The burden had lifted, never again would we be able to ask the questions that had nagged him for more than a decade.

Now, aged 35, he is an all-time great. Indisputably. He sits alongside Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen - the only male golfers to have won all four of the tournaments that matter most.

The Grand Slam eluded some of golf's greatest names; Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, Seve Ballesteros, Sir Nick Faldo and Phil Mickelson.

Now with five majors, McIlroy moves alongside Ballesteros and trails Faldo by one. Given that he is the first man from the continent to complete the Slam, Northern Ireland's sporting superstar might have eclipsed Faldo.

It could be argued that way, given McIlroy's 28 PGA Tour victories including two Players Championships. Outside his three Masters and three Open titles, Faldo won only three other events that count on the PGA Tour.

But it would be churlish to say either way, comparing eras is a fool's errand. What can be said is that McIlroy is in the conversation for being Europe's greatest men's golfer.

And now he has shed a family of gorillas from his back he will be unburdened for future majors. The next one is at Quail Hollow, where he has enjoyed so much success in PGA Tour events.

Then it's the US Open, a championship he has narrowly missed winning in the past two years, before The Open at Royal Portrush in his native Northern Ireland. Opportunities abound in 2025.

McIlroy's golfing talent is beyond question. The same could not be said of his temperament because of the weighty burden of an 11-year wait for his fifth major win.

The Masters was the biggest hurdle. He feels he should have won it in 2011 when he capitulated to a final round 80.

It is the tournament that inspired him to play the game, the one he wanted most. It is why nerves so very nearly got the better of him last Sunday.

The biggest battle was with himself. Golf is a test of nerve and that element undermines any technical gifts, no matter how grand they might be.

But somehow he clung on to deny Rose - a 44-year-old, who surely deserves another major and plays this game with commendable grace and class.

Too often golf sits in the sporting shadows, but last Sunday these two titans dragged the game into a spotlight that has rarely shone brighter.

McIlroy now sits alongside the greatest of UK sporting icons.

Sir Roger Bannister, Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Lewis Hamilton, Sir Andy Murray, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Sir Mark Cavendish, Sir Chris Hoy, Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, Dame Laura Kenny, Sir Jimmy Anderson - the list goes on and the order can be argued any which way.

But you can see where McIlroy might end up.

The bottom line is that in golf and in sport in general, McIlroy is right up there. Supremely talented to the extent that he could conquer vulnerabilities that had threatened an under-achiever tagline.

We can't say that any longer. There is so much more to talk about when it comes to Rory McIlroy.