Gooch joined the breakaway LIV golf tour for an estimated $15 million in 2022 and he has since gone on to win a mind-boggling amount of money.

Rory McIlroy’s Masters triumph means he completed the career Grand Slam. He is one of only six men in history to win each of golf’s four majors at least once and nobody can ever take that away from him.

However, American player Talor Gooch said previously that any Masters triumph for Rory would have to be marked with an asterisk, due to the fractured nature of modern day golf.

Interviewed ahead of the 2024 Masters, Gooch told Australian Golf Digest: “If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his (career) grand slam without some of the best players in the world, there’s just going to be an asterisk. It’s just the reality. I think everybody wins whenever the majors figure out a way to get the best players in the world there.”

Gooch, who finished 14th in the 2022 Masters, has dropped down to 1517 in the Official Golf World Rankings since his departure from the PGA Tour with LIV events not recognised.

McIlroy had his say on the matter and said he is giving Gooch ‘the benefit of the doubt’. A host of LIV players such as Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Joaquín Niemann did play at Augusta this year, some as former champions, some as invitees.