Rory McIlroy says he has no plans "to stop here" after emerging from a white knuckle final round to retain the Masters and match European great Sir Nick Faldo's haul of six major titles.
Tied with Cameron Young overnight, McIlroy slipped two shots off the lead after six holes but rallied to beat Scottie Scheffler by a stroke at Augusta National and become the fourth player to win successive Masters.
Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald said McIlroy is "undoubtedly the best European golfer of all time now" as he moved to within one of Harry Vardon, the Jersey-born golfer who between 1896-1914 won a record six Open Championships and a US Open in a time before the Masters or US PGA Championship had been established.
Faldo won three Masters and three Open titles between 1989-96.
However, McIlroy is the only European to have won all four majors.
American Jack Nicklaus holds the Masters and overall record with six and 18 respectively, with Tiger Woods having won five times at Augusta and 15 majors.
"I tie Nick, so there's going to be that conversation and debate. It's a cool conversation to be a part of," he said when asked about being considered Europe's greatest.
"It took me 10 years to win my fifth major, and then my sixth one's come pretty soon after it. I'm not putting a number on it, but I certainly don't want to stop here."
With three more majors to come this year, McIlroy added he does not anticipate the "lull of motivation" he felt in the wake of his career Grand Slam-sealing Masters win last year.
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To win last year, McIlroy needed to beat Justin Rose - who finished tied third on Sunday having led by two at the turn - in a sudden death play-off after bogeying the 72nd hole.
And he did not make it much easier for himself this time around. Having scorched the field to take a record six-shot lead after 36 holes, he stuttered to a one-over 73 on Saturday.
Tied with Young going into Sunday, Northern Ireland's McIlroy heaped pressure on himself with a sloppy double-bogey five on the fourth after three-putting from eight feet.
He dropped another shot at the par-three sixth, but after mixing four birdies with seven pars to build a two-shot lead over world number one Scheffler heading to the last, he said his "greatest stress" on Sunday was not knowing where his ball ended up on the 18th after flailing his drive right and in among the trees.
"It could go anywhere. It could be anywhere," added the world number two, who also drew level with Americans Phil Mickelson and Lee Trevino on six majors.
"There were a few others. I thought my second putt on 11 was huge to avoid making bogey there."
Despite falling behind Young and Rose, and with Scheffler creeping up the leaderboard, McIlroy insisted he never felt as though his chance had slipped away.
"If I hadn't birdied the seventh and eighth holes, I would have started to push a little bit," added the 36-year-old, who became just the sixth wire-to-wire Masters winner.