Rory McIlroy is looking to keep his calendar slam hopes alive (Picture: Getty)

The US PGA Championship gets underway today as Xander Schauffele looks to defend his title at Quail Hollow.

Schauffele pipped Bryson DeChambeau to the post in …

Rory McIlroy speaks to the media (Picture: Getty)

Rory McIlroy admitted he was left confused by Bryson DeChambeau’s comments about his demeanour during the final round of the Masters last month.

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Rory McIlroy ended his major drought at the Masters last month (Picture: Getty)

Just like London buses, Rory McIlroy will hope that after waiting almost 11 years to win his fifth major, another one may be right around the corner at this we…

Xander Schauffele returns as the defending champion (Picture: Getty)

The US PGA Championship returns this week on Thursday as Xander Schauffele looks to defend his title at Quail Hollow.

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He could be on course for another major triumph.

Rory McIlroy won last month’s Masters (Picture: Getty)

Rory McIlroy believes last month’s major triumph at the Masters has freed him up as he returns to a happy hunting ground for this week’s US PGA Championship.

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Ryder Cup legend Nick Faldo has named the top five golfers in history after Rory McIlroy’s sensational Masters victory.

McIlroy beat Ryder Cup teammate Justin Rose in a play-off to win his first Masters title and finally complete the career Grand Slam.

The 35-year-old missed a par putt to win the Augusta tournament in regulation but recovered to birdie the first play-off hole and pip Rose to glory.

McIlroy had been chasing a career Grand Slam for over a decade, having won The Open and PGA Championship in 2014, three years after securing his first major at the US Open.

By achieving golfing immortality, McIlroy became just the sixth man – and first European – to clinch the career Slam following Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods.

He remains one short of Faldo’s Slam tally but the three-time Masters champion insists McIlroy has already achieved more than him.

Faldo in fact rates McIlroy as one of the top five golfers in history along with the aforementioned Hogan, Nicklaus, Player and Woods.

‘It’s a whole different kettle of fish nowadays. He’s done way more than me,’Faldo told The Times. ‘He’s won 29 times in America.

‘Of the all-time greats, I’d put him fifth. Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack [Nicklaus] and Tiger [Woods]. Rory is right there.

‘No discredit to Gene Sarazen, but that was a completely different era. I’ve hardly seen any footage of him, but achieving the grand slam puts you in a different category.’

Having ‘shaken the Masters monkey off his back’, McIlroy can go on to win ‘multiple more majors’, according to Faldo.

‘He obviously got off to a flyer with those first four majors,’ the 67-year-old said. ‘I remember I said then he might be really disappointed to only win ten majors or he will be ecstatic to win five.

‘Tiger [Woods] and [Ben] Crenshaw both had big gaps [also 11 years] but only won one more. Rory is 35, he’s as fit as a fiddle, and you’ve got to believe he’s really shaken the monkey off his back.

‘I would’ve thought it’ll set him free and he might be the unique one to go on and win [multiple] more majors.

‘I did get teary because I kind of know that walk off 18 and realising what he’d done, people don’t appreciate the workload that has gone into that physically, technically, mentally.

‘You spend thousands of hours and hit millions of balls to reach your goal, and a heck of a goal it was.’

Faldo has known McIlroy for more than two decades and first realised he was a ‘special’ when they played a practice round at Carnoustie in 2007.

‘I had this thing called Team Faldo and I took six or eight of them to California,’ he added.

‘James Heath was the best amateur, Ollie Fisher was there. Rory was like third back then, but I remember I played with him in a practice round at Carnoustie [in 2007].

‘It was chucking it down with rain and he put all his waterproofs on and then he made that famous follow through and I went, “Wow, that’s different”. That was the first time [I knew he was special].’

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Rory McIlroy’s four-year-old daughter showed her father how it was done by delighting the Augusta crowd with a monster putt on the eve of the 89th Masters.

The Northern Irishman, who needs to win the Masters to complete the career grand slam, helped Poppy sink a long birdie putt on the final hole of the Par 3 contest.

‘Yeah, very cool,’ McIlroy, who was joined on his round by wife Erica Stoll, said when asked about that heartwarming moment.

‘It’s just such a fun afternoon. Being out there with Shane (Lowry) and Tommy (Fleetwood) and their families, we’re all very, very close, so to have the kids out there and them having fun is the most important thing.

‘It’s a really nice way to sort of end the preparation going into what is the serious part of the week. So it’s nice to be able to get out here and do this.’

The McIlroy family were not the only ones to make special memories during the traditional pre-tournament competition.

Sammy Spieth, aged three, hit a better tee shot by his standards than playing partners Justin Thomas and Max Homa did by theirs on the second hole.

He teed up a driver, gripped it cross-handed and sent his ball about 30 yards down the middle, while Thomas and Homa hit their wedges short and right into a bunker.

Sammy’s dad, 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth, didn’t bother to tee off. He had enough to manage with a team of caddies — all wearing white Augusta National coveralls — that included Sammy, one-year-old daughter Sophie and wife Annie, who is expecting a third child in July.

The record book will show that Masters rookie Nico Echavarria won the contest beating J.J. Spaun with a birdie on the second playoff hole after each shot 5-under 22.

While the Masters is arguably the easiest major to win because of its small field that includes aging past champions, the Par 3 is much easier, because most players don’t even try.

Gary Player certainly does. The oldest living Masters champion at age 89, he made three straight birdies — flirting with aces on Nos. 6 and 7 — to get his name onto the leaderboard, although he ultimately didn’t post an official score.

The same was true of 70 players in the field of 90. That trend likely will continue as long as the winner on Augusta National’s tranquil, 1,090-yard par-3 course fails to win the green jacket. The contest began in 1960 and no one has won it and the Masters in the same year.

‘I’ve never really been, like, buy into the jinx too much, but I also don’t think I’ve ever turned in a card,’ Thomas said.

Participation in the Par 3 is optional, and a handful players — including Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay and Phil Mickelson — opted out, choosing to grind on the range or play practice rounds well into the afternoon ahead of Thursday’s opening round.

‘If you’re not ready by now, then you don’t really have a chance. This week takes a lot of energy,’ McIlroy said.

‘It’s a tough walk, it’s hilly, and the mental energy you’re expending as well. Get this done, and then just go home, have dinner, relax and get ready for tomorrow.’

Can Rory finally do it?