Rory McIlroy calls out Tiger Woods and three other golf icons for 'tough' comments about him

Rory McIlroy has called out four golf legends, including Tiger Woods, for increasing the pressure on him with their comments over the years. McIlroy finally achieved golfing immortality on Sunday as he beat Justin Rose in a play-off to win the Masters at Augusta National.

The Northern Irishman has been trying to banish his demons on the course ever since throwing away a four-shot lead in the final round of the 2011 Masters. After missing a putt on the 18th for victory, he got the job done on the first hole of sudden death before sinking to his knees, overcome by emotion.

In doing so, McIlroy completed the career Grand Slam, having previously won the US Open, The Open and two US PGA Championships. But success at Augusta has been a long time coming and the predictions of Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson haven’t helped McIlroy, who admitted that their prophecies had weighed heavily on his shoulders.

“It’s tough. You know, you’ve had Jack, Gary, Tom, Tiger, you name it, come through here, and all say that I’ll win the Masters one day. That’s a hard load to carry, especially – it is. It really is,” he said.

“You know, these are idols of mine, and it’s, look, it’s very flattering that they all come up here and they believe in me and they believe in my abilities to be able to win this tournament and, you know, achieve the Grand Slam and all that. But it doesn’t help, you know. I wish they didn’t say it.

“But, you know, I think as well, as the years have went on, I’ve just become more accustomed to the noise that sort of surrounds my whole Masters week and I’ve become a little more comfortable with it.”

McIlroy had collected the other three golfing majors by the end of 2014, but it took him 11 attempts to complete the set at the Masters. He has now made history, becoming the sixth man, and first European, to complete the Slam, joining Americans Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Nicklaus and Woods and South Africa's Gary Player.

His infamous collapse 14 years ago has stalked him around Augusta and the 35-year-old admitted he was riddled with nerves throughout his final round. “It’s very difficult. I think I’ve carried that burden since August 2014. It’s nearly 11 years,” he said.

“And not just about winning my next major, but the career Grand Slam. You know, trying to join a group of five players to do it, you know, watching a lot of my peers get green jackets in the process.

“Yeah, it’s been difficult, and I’ve tried to approach this tournament with the most positive attitude each and every time that I’ve shown up, and I think just the sort of cumulative experience that I’ve gained coming back here each and every year, I just I feel like I get a little more comfortable with the shot needed. I talked about it at the start of the week, but you know, there’s talking about it and actually doing it.

“And yeah, today was difficult. I was unbelievably nervous this morning. Really nervous on the first hole, as you witnessed with the double [bogey], but as I said, that sort of calmed me down and I was able to bounce back and show that resilience that I’ve talked about a lot.

“Yeah, look, it was a heavy weight to carry, and thankfully now I don’t have to carry it and it frees me up and I know I’m coming back here every year, which is lovely.”