Jack Nicklaus believes Rory McIlroy could win '15 or 20' majors

Jack Nicklaus has a very high opinion of Rory McIlroy’s golf game.

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Why shouldn’t he? Entering this week’s PGA Championship, McIlroy has reasserted himself as the best golfer in the world. He has three major championships under his belt with just the Masters left to complete the career grand slam. Each of those major victories came in dominant fashion as McIlroy blew away the rest of the field.

Furthermore, he enters this week riding the momentum of his win at the Open Championship and then another win at the Bridgestone last week.

When asked about the career prospects of the young man, Nicklaus went so far as to say that he believes McIlroy would potentially have the goods to break his record of 18 majors. Interviewed on Mike and Mike this morning, Nicklaus said the following (as passed along by Bob Harig of ESPN.com):

"“It depends on what he feels his priorities are, and that’s his call. I think Rory has an opportunity to win 15 or 20 majors or whatever he wants to do if he wants to keep playing. But you just don’t know what the guy’s priorities are going to be in life 10 years from now.”"

It’s not up to us to tell Jack what he meant, but it’s hard to read that bit about “priorities” and not take it as a shot at Tiger Woods and his descent from the top of the golf world. Nicklaus has been relatively outspoken, after all, about where Woods might have gone wrong with his priorities. Regarding Woods, Nicklaus did make sure to say that he hopes that he can stay healthy for the remainder of his career.

Maybe Nicklaus does not want to see either guy make a run at 18, but if he had to choose one of them to do it, I think it’s safe to say he would pick McIlroy.

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Jack Nicklaus believes Rory McIlroy could win ’15 or 20′ majors

By Hayden Kane | Aug 6, 2014