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Graeme McDowell says "it could be incredible what Rory McIlroy will achieve in the sport" following his dramatic career Grand Slam-clinching Masters triumph.
McDowell, the 2010 US Open champion, said he was among the millions of TV viewers who "lived every shot with him" during Sunday's rollercoaster of a final round at Augusta as he also ended an 11-year major drought.
"He's now a legend of the game. To win the Grand Slam is something a lot of players don't even come close to touching," said McDowell as he recalled his first-ever round at St Andrews with a then 18-year-old McIlroy on the eve of the Dunhill Links Championship in 2007.
At the age of 35, McIlroy has achieved the career Grand Slam goal he spoke of as an eight-year-old in a 1998 BBC TV interview.
And the "floodgates could now open" for him, McDowell said.
"I still look at him as a kid that looks like he's got 10 or 15 years of career ahead of him," added McDowell, who played alongside McIlroy in the victorious European Ryder Cup teams in 2010, 2012 and 2014.
"As in any sport, or in any facet of life, when you've absolutely climbed to the top peak of what you want to achieve in your life, where do you go from there?
"Some people can be just like 'that's it' and maybe not do a lot more in their career. Others people can kick on and the world is their oyster and he could go on to win four, five, six more majors from here."
McDowell added that he wasn't remotely surprised by McIlroy's hugely emotional response to his play-off triumph over Justin Rose as he sank to his knees and cried tears of joy after holing the winning putt.
"It was a microcosm of everything he's gone through at Augusta over the years," he said. "I remember in 2011 when he had that four-shot lead going into the last round.
"Just to see the outpouring of emotion from him after he beat Justin Rose in the play-off. Everything he has gone through over the last 14 or 15 years just came pouring out of him."
The former US Open champion, who now plays on the LIV tour, recalled his 2007 St Andrews encounter with the teenage McIlroy, preparing to tee up in what was only his second professional tournament after joining the paid ranks a month earlier.
"We played at a practice round at St Andrews. I shot a 68 and lost the money and it was like: 'Who is this kid just out of school?' From a very early age, we knew he was special."
Three years later, McDowell felt the need to take McIlroy under his wing during his Ryder Cup debut at Celtic Manor. The young golfer had attracted criticism for comments about the event.
"He was taking a lot of heat for his 'the Ryder Cup is just an exhibition' comment but we instinctively knew we had to protect him because he was the special one," McDowell said.
"We had to look after him and it was a lot of fun to be by his side at a couple of Ryder Cups and watch him blossom into the player he is today."
Graeme McDowell and McIlroy were Ryder Cup team-mates during Europe's triumphs in 2010, 2012 and 2014
Padraig Harrington's Open triumph at Carnoustie in 2007 began a remarkable era of major championship success for Ireland but McDowell acknowledges that McIlroy's achievements put him on another level.
"Myself and Darren [Clarke] and Padraig [Harrington] and Shane [Lowry], we all feel very proud of what we've accomplished and what we've done for Ireland in golfing terms but Rory is in a different stratosphere with what he has accomplished in the game and what he continues to accomplish."
McDowell added that McIlroy's Augusta triumph only increases the "spectacle" which this year's Open Championship at Royal Portrush was already going to be given the presence of the home hero.
"We're all looking at Portrush. The Open in July. For him to go there. What would that not be like? This will certainly lift a huge weight off his shoulders and he can now be back to being loose and free, and the bouncy Rory McIlroy that we all know and love.
"I don't think proud even covers it, it is unfathomable what he has accomplished and he is on the wall of the greatest ever which Northern Ireland have produced. The Open at Portrush will be special and a celebration of what he has achieved."
