I reckon I can be forgiven, though. In the wake of his momentous victory at the 2025 Masters in April, it is a question golfers all over the world are surely asking: is Rory McIlroy now the best European golfer of all-time?

As ever, the answer probably depends on who you ask, or at least on what criteria you base your decision. Let’s start with the other candidates.

The Old World golfer with the most (modern) major wins is, get a grip folks, none other than Harry Vardon with seven. Specifically, that’s six Open Championships and one U.S Open. But the Channel Islander’s eventual tally comes with an asterisk. For what are likely purely logistical reasons, Vardon never played in a U.S PGA Championship. Nor did he tee-up in a Masters for the simple reason that, when the so-called “rite of spring” began in 1934, he was already 64 years old and, maybe even more relevantly, just three years short of his death.

More recently, the only two post-WW2 Europeans with any kind of credible claim to the “best-ever” title are Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros. Faldo won six majors; Seve five. Faldo won 30 times on what most golfers still refer to as the European Tour and finished first in nine PGA Tour events. Seve accumulated a record 50 victories on his home circuit and matched Faldo on the PGA Tour with nine wins.

Still, those numbers represent only a starting point in a debate which has long raged: who was the better player of those two? It’s a tough one, but at least in one category there has never been any doubt. When it comes to historical significance, Ballesteros’ contribution to the game (and perhaps most significantly, the rise in stature of the Ryder Cup) far outweighs that of his English rival. For me, that has always been the tie-breaker, never mind Faldo’s slight edge when it comes to Grand Slam titles.

Nick Faldo has won six major championships. PHOTO: Getty Images.

All of which brings us to the (overwhelming) case for Rory McIlroy.

Point one: even before the now 36-year-old Northern Irishman became only the sixth golfer (following Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods) from anywhere to win all four major championships, McIlroy was the only European who had won three of the four constituent parts of the career Grand Slam. Faldo and Ballesteros, of course, only ever added two of the four (the Open and the Masters) to their list of achievements.

Point two: when it comes to the bric-a-brac elite golfers pick up in-between major starts, McIlroy again stands out from the rest.

European Tour money list or Order of Merit or Race to Dubai (take your pick)? Faldo two, Ballesteros six, McIlroy six (already).

PGA Tour money list or Fed-Ex Cup? Faldo zero, Ballesteros zero, McIlroy six.

Wins on the PGA Tour? Let’s just say Rory has 20 (and counting) more than Faldo and Ballesteros.

Point three: we could get into things like Vardon Trophies and “Player of the Year” awards, but there is little to be learned from those. McIlroy wins almost every count.

Maybe, of course, it really doesn’t need to be at all complicated. When Rory completed the set at Augusta National this year and added his face to golf’s Mount Rushmore, that fact alone was surely enough to separate him from any other European rival.

Seve Ballesteros was an artist. PHOTO: Getty Images.

So he deserves that accolade. It came, after all, at the end of a long wait. More than a decade passed between McIlroy’s fourth major win and his fifth. But at Augusta this year circumstances at last came together in his favour. His nearest rival after 54 holes, Bryson DeChambeau, was clearly struggling with the longer clubs; his elevated place on the leader board solely the product of an inspired short game. Only rarely is that a sustainable formula for ultimate success.

Conversely, the next two guys in the chasing pack – Corey Connors and Ludvig Aberg – couldn’t make a putt to save their lives on the final day. So those challenges soon enough evaporated.

Which left one X-factor: the really low round from a player who started the final day with, at best, low expectations of victory. Justin Rose was that man, his closing 66 the best Sunday score. And it was there that McIlroy took advantage of his stellar golf over the previous three rounds. With a sizeable margin of error to play with, he was able to shoot over-par and still win.

Fine with me. And confirmed, if any proof was actually required, that Rory McIlroy really is the best European golfer of all-time.