Rory McIlroy calls out Tiger Woods and three golf legends for their comments about him

has called out , Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson for comments they made that piled significant pressure on the new champion. The Ulsterman joined those aforementioned as a winner at Augusta, at the 11th time of asking.

McIlroy admitted that those four titans of the sport, all insisting that he would one day win the Masters, weighed considerably on his shoulders. He is relieved that he no longer has to have conversations about not completing a career Grand Slam, adding that comments from Woods, Nicklaus, Player and Watson did not help in his opinion.

"It's tough. 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. It is. It really is," McIlroy said.

"These are idols of mine, and 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 achieve the Grand Slam and all that, but it doesn't help, you know? I wish they didn't say it.

"It was all relief. There wasn't much joy in that reaction. It was all relief. And then the joy came pretty soon after that. I've been coming here 17 years, and it was a decade-plus of emotion that came out of me there."

McIlroy had to endure the hardship of never winning at Augusta in addition to the public knowledge that golf's greatest-ever players were all expecting more of him.

He had five Major titles to his name before winning on the 73rd green, but none since the 2014 US , with those he revered expecting McIlroy to become the first European to complete the Grand Slam.

Woods has long-championed the idea that his TGL League partner McIlroy would one day wear the famous green jacket. While just this week, to win on Sunday.

"I think Rory McIlroy will win the Masters this year, and I hope he does because it would give golf a great boost to have another winner of the Grand Slam," Player said at a Thursday morning press conference. "He has the best swing in golf without a question."

Eight-time Major champion Watson added: "I just have a gut feeling that Rory is the guy that's going to win this week. That's the bottom line. That's my gut feeling."

And a smiling Nicklaus in the same press conference said: "Well, ditto. OK, move on. I think the same as you two guys. I think it's about time that Rory won."

It's no wonder why McIlroy has been grinning ear-to-ear since defeating Justin Rose in a dramatic sudden-death playoff. Not only has he banished his own hoodoo, but finally lived up to the expectations set by the biggest names in golf.