From the home video of a three-year-old practising in his living room to chipping balls into a washing machine on national television aged nine, it was obvious that Rory McIlroy had the talent to make history.
The extent to which he would do so was the only question, a question now answered emphatically by victory in the Masters to complete the career grand slam.
McIlroy is the first European player to have won all four major titles, joining an elite club populated by greats of the sport Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
And the 35-year-old is two more wins away from becoming the most successful European player of the modern era, Sir Nick Faldo having won both the Masters and Open Championship three times.
Not bad for a curly-haired kid from Holywood in Belfast, whose father Gerry worked extra jobs to help fund his son’s amateur career, a career which first garnered wider attention with an opening 68 – the only bogey-free round of the day – in the 2007 Open at Carnoustie just two months after his 18th birthday.
Back in his home country, of course, they had been well aware of McIlroy’s talent for years.
Aged 16 he shot a course record of 61 at Royal Portrush, the venue for the 2019 Open, and the following year became European amateur champion and reached number one on the world amateur rankings.
McIlroy turned professional after playing in the Walker Cup against an American side that included Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson and in just his second event was third in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.
A first European Tour victory arrived in the Dubai Desert Classic in 2009, while his maiden PGA Tour title came in spectacular fashion with a closing 62 in the Quail Hollow Championship.
The following year brought a first major title as he decimated the field in the US Open, a record-breaking win made more remarkable by what had happened at Augusta National just two months before.
Taking a four-shot lead into the final round, McIlroy collapsed to a closing 80 and finished 10 shots behind the winner Charl Schwartzel, a nightmare he later described as a “huge turning point” in his career.
It is a career that has had its fair share of ups and downs both on and off the course, from calling off his wedding to tennis star Caroline Wozniacki after invitations had been sent out to a contract dispute with his former management company.
There was the ankle injury suffered playing football which prevented him defending his Open title in 2015, an ill-judged round of golf with United States president Donald Trump and the controversial decision not to compete in the Olympics when golf made its return to the Games in Rio in 2016.
And who knows what the fall-out would have been had he missed his tee time on the final day of the Ryder Cup in 2012 and potentially prevented Europe from producing the ‘Miracle of Medinah’?
McIlroy, of course, made it with minutes to spare – before beating Keegan Bradley – and partly thanks to a PGA of America employee, Erica Stoll, who would go on to become his wife.
But if that was down to sheer good luck, everything he has achieved on the course has been down to that natural talent and a resilience to recover from the close calls in the 2022 Open, 2023 US Open and last year’s US Open at Pinehurst.
The man who took advantage of McIlroy’s late stumble that day, Bryson DeChambeau, was alongside him in the last group on Sunday as McIlroy gained revenge, fittingly joining golf’s most exclusive club by winning at its most exclusive club.
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