What happens when a newly minted Grand Slam champion is handed a Sharpie and a piece of Augusta National memorabilia signed by golf’s most exclusive club? Rory McIlroy found out last week. And his response said everything.

During a year-in-review appearance on The Shotgun Start podcast, released December 16, McIlroy revealed a gift from caddie Harry Diamond — a signed Augusta National item featuring the signatures of every career Grand Slam winner. Diamond had presented it as an early Christmas present while the two were in Australia.

“This is the first time anyone’s really seen it,” McIlroy told the hosts before holding up the memorabilia.

“He brought me this with a Sharpie and said, ‘Do you want to sign it?’ And I said, ‘No, absolutely not.'”

But he wasn’t done.

“I just hope I don’t have to get Scotty to sign it next year.”

The line landed with the dry humor McIlroy intended. But beneath the joke sits a truth both men understand. Scottie Scheffler is knocking on the door of golf’s most exclusive room. The world No. 1 has won four majors — the Masters twice, the PGA Championship, and The Open — and needs only the U.S. Open to complete his own Grand Slam.

McIlroy’s quip wasn’t confrontational. It was the sound of a man who knows the grind Scheffler is about to face.

McIlroy lived that grind for over a decade. He won his first major at the 2011 U.S. Open, then added back-to-back titles at the 2012 PGA Championship and 2014 Open Championship. But Augusta haunted him. He blew a four-shot final-round lead in 2011 and carried that scar through 11 more attempts. When he finally defeated Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff this April, he didn’t just win a green jacket. He closed a chapter that lasted 14 years.

Now McIlroy sits inside the room Scheffler wants to enter. And he’s already signaled he sees what’s coming.

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Rory McIlroy joins golf’s most exclusive club

The memorabilia McIlroy now gets to sign carries weight that transcends autographs. Only six men in golf history have completed the career Grand Slam: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and now McIlroy.

Before his 2025 Masters victory, the feat hadn’t been achieved in 25 years. Woods was the last to do it, completing his collection at the 2000 Open Championship.

The rarity is staggering. Fewer than 1% of golfers who win a single major ever complete all four. Legends like Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, and Sam Snead fell one short. Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth remain stuck at three legs each.

This isn’t the first time McIlroy has acknowledged Scheffler’s trajectory. Earlier this year, while signing a rare Augusta National scorecard bearing the signatures of all the previous Grand Slam winners, McIlroy deliberately left space below his name — a nod to who he expects will sign next.

Scheffler’s 2025 season reinforced why. Six PGA Tour victories. Two major titles. A fourth consecutive Player of the Year award. He’s held the world No. 1 ranking for over 150 weeks and shows no signs of slowing.

The U.S. Open remains his final piece. Scheffler finished T2 there in 2022 — close enough to taste it, far enough to understand the road ahead.

For now, McIlroy gets to guard the door. Even if he’s doing it with a smile.