Rory McIlroy once took some heat for insinuating that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were on the “back nines” of their Hall of Fame careers in golf. A decade later, the 34-year-old acknowledged that he's on the “10th green or 11th tee” of his own prolific run on the PGA Tour.

“I said a few years ago that Phil and Tiger are on the back nines of their career, and I got a lot of sh-t for it,” McIlroy cracked ahead of his first start at the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches since 2018. “So I don’t know if I wanna – I would say, I turned pro in ‘07.

“So what is this, my 17th year? Another 17, I’ll be 51. Yeah. I’d say I’m pretty close to the turn at this point, if not a little after. Maybe on the 10th green or 11th tee.”

McIlroy, the favorite at PGA National as his Masters tune-up gets underway via the Florida Swing, is referring to remarks he made at the 2014 Tour Championship, in which the then-rising star seemed to be putting the two legends out to pasture.

“They’re just getting older. Phil’s 43 or whatever he is … and Tiger’s nearly 40. So they’re getting into the sort of last few holes of their career, and that’s what happens … It obviously just gets harder as you get older. I’ll be able to tell you in 20 years how it feels.”

McIlroy took to Twitter that evening to defend his comments on the basis of simple mathematics.

“Golfers on average have a 20-25-year career, both into the back 9 of their careers… Don't think there's anything wrong with saying that.”

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In 2014, Tiger and Phil were about 20 years deep into their PGA Tour runs. And while both Woods, 48, and Mickelson, 53, would each triumph once more in a major (Woods at the 2019 Masters, Phil at the 2021 PGA Championship), they've long faded from regular contention on the game's biggest stages.

McIlroy was a precocious 24-year-old with four major titles under his belt when he pre-eulogized the two legends. Now, he's a buffer, wizened … four-time major champion. As powerful as he still drives the ball, the World No. 2 knows the clock is ticking before his twilight inevitably sets in.

“I can't sit here and say the last 10 seasons haven't been successful because I haven't won a major,” said the 24-time tour victor. “But at the same time, I recognize that, when all is said and done, I'm going to be judged on those tournaments a lot, hopefully amongst other things as well.”

McIlroy admitted that sustaining his hunger to contend for the next 17 years “seems like a stretch,” but 10 more quality years is “absolutely” a realistic goal.

“Yeah, yeah. Or a green jacket and then just walk away.”

Hopefully, he's kidding. It was hard to tell with Rory on Wednesday.