'He’s Rory McIlroy, You Know? He Hits It 350 Yards In The Air Downwind And He Has Shorter Clubs Into Firm Greens Than Anyone Else. When He's On, He's On' - When McIlroy Left His Playing Partners In Awe

Rory McIlroy is one of just six men to have won the career grand slam and will go down as one of, if not the, best golfers of his entire generation.

The five-time Major champion is known for his otherworldly ball striking, his picture-perfect swing and his incredibly power off the tee, and he has left a number of his playing partners in awe over the years.

From reducing multiple winners to joking they want to "quit" the game after playing alongside him to making others question how on earth they compete with him, here are some of the times McIlroy's fellow pros have been wowed...

Akshay Bhatia: 2025 Masters

Akshay Bhatia enjoyed a front-row seat for the start of Rory McIlroy's epic Masters victory last year, playing with the to-be grand slam champion for the first two rounds.

The American was taken aback by McIlroy's play, revealing how he felt on GOLF's Subpar podcast a couple of weeks later.

“I’ve never seen someone hit a driver that good," Bhatia said.

"He played great the first round and made a couple of doubles and somehow I beat him the first round.

"And I was like, man, that guy, he played so freaking good. And you almost feel like, how do I compete with that?

"He hits it far, he hits it straight, his wedge play was great. He didn’t miss I don’t think inside 10 feet on Friday.”

Xander Schauffele: 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

Xander Schauffele admitted he was in awe of Rory McIlroy in the final round of the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship, where the Northern Irishman hit the accelerator on the back nine to win his fourth title at Quail Hollow by five strokes

Schauffele held a one-shot lead overnight and the tournament looked set for a tight finish, before “unbelievable” McIlroy found a different gear to race clear and claim his 26th PGA Tour title.

“When you take a step back, yeah,” Schauffele said, when asked whether he found himself admiring his opponent.

“He’s Rory McIlroy, you know?

“He hits it 350 yards in the air downwind and he has shorter clubs into firm greens than anyone else.

“When he's on, he's on. Hats off to him for winning. Yeah, he played unbelievably well.

“Overall I felt like I was doing pretty well for most of the day and then had that costly stretch and he capitalized like no other. Big reversal there.”

Alex Noren: 2018 BMW PGA Championship

Alex Noren, who holds the Wentworth course record of 62, was another pro taken aback by McIlroy in 2018 despite him coming up three strokes shy of the Swede's best score around the classic English course.

Noren shared the opening round with McIlroy at the 2018 BMW PGA, where he was asked if he could feed off of the energy from the his playing partner's high quality golf, to which he disagreed.

"No. No. That's the best round I've ever seen. I'm about to quit golf I think," he joked.

"It's hard to draw off of it when it's that good, you know what I mean.

"So I really wanted to be the first on the tee to make a birdie, to get the honor and then you don't have to hit after that 330 driver or 300-yard 3-wood.

"It's tough around here if you're not really on, and then you're playing with Rory; it's the best round I've ever seen I think.

"It's tough because it's almost like you're trying to play better than you need to when you see that. I didn't feel good over the ball today and it's tough."

Tommy Fleetwood: 'McIlroy is the best of our generation'

Tommy Fleetwood has played with McIlroy many, many times, including in four consecutive foursomes victories over the last two Ryder Cups.

While not necessarily quotes from a single round, the Englishman has always heaprd praise on his teammate and close friend, and he maintains his European counterpart is the greatest player of our generation.

"Look, I still, I’ve said it a few times, and I never want to speak out of turn about other players, I still believe from everything that I’ve experienced since I’ve been playing that Rory is the best of our generation. I still believe that,” said Fleetwood at the 2024 RBC Canadian Open, despite Scottie Scheffler's dominance.