Nick Faldo was aware of Rory McIlroy as a youngster and one swing when he was a teenager made the six-time Major winner truly stand up and take note. The Northern Irishman had always been tipped for huge things and has finally completed the career Grand Slam. Faldo, a three-time Masters winner, had seen McIlroy try and fail to land the Green Jacket he so craved for a decade. Last week he finally scaled the mountain, beating Justin Rose in a play-off at Augusta to claim the one major that had continued to allude him. A McIlroy shot in the belting rain in Scotland at Carnoustie, a course that last held the Open in 2018, was the first time Faldo knew he was watching something special. When the 67-year-old became one of golf's biggest stars he began holding junior events with the Northern Irishman invited. McIlroy at that point in his development, still in his infancy, was regarded as the third best in his generation behind James Heath and Ollie Fisher. But when he was 18 he played a round with Faldo and produced one shot that left its mark on the three-time Masters winners. He told The Times : “I had this thing called Team Faldo and I took six or eight of them to California. 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].” McIlroy has produced a number of stunning shots since then en route to five major wins and more than twenty successes on the PGA Tour. Several of those helped him finally conquer Augusta during a final round with Faldo ranking McIlroy’s stunning second shot into the par-five 15th among the best in all of golf history. “Before the tournament I was trying to describe different attitudes and I was saying, ‘You don’t go happy-go-lucky at Augusta’, but that shot was definitely Monte Carlo or Bust,” he said. “I think that was right up there in the top half-a-dozen greatest shots we’ve seen over the years, and, more importantly for him, the greatest seven-iron he’s hit in his life.” McIlroy's first major came back in 2011, when he won the US Open. the first of his two PGA Championships came a year later with the Open captured in 2014. He now sits on five major wins, one shy of Faldo, but the Englishman insists his fellow Brit ranks ahead of him in the history books. "He’s done way more than me. He’s won 29 times in America,” he said. “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.”