Jack Nicklaus says Rory McIlroy faces a decision that could make him the greatest

The greatest golfer of all time recently discussed the greatest active golfer and what the future holds

At the age of 27, Jack Nicklaus had won six major championships -- three Masters and one each of the other three majors. He famously went on to win 12 more majors and holds the all-time record for major wins at 18. Only Tiger Woods (currently at 14) has even approached that number.

Of active golfers under 40, here are the leaders in majors.

• Rory McIlroy (27): 4
• Bubba Watson (38): 2
• Martin Kaymer (31): 2
• Jordan Spieth (23): 2

Those are the only four golfers under age 40 who have won multiple major championship. So it's pretty easy to see why those in the golf world talk about McIlroy in reverential tones. He had four majors at the age of 25 (he has not won one since 2014).

Recently, Nicklaus was asked about McIlroy and what the future holds, and he offered up some interesting tidbits.

"Rory is one of those young men who has got a tremendous amount of talent," Nicklaus told the BBC. "He has won and played on his talent to this point. If he wishes to dominate and go forward then he's got to improve."

This is true. McIlroy was not even in the top 125 in putting last year. His wedge game could use a tune-up. He has to limit the one bad round at big events. He knows all of this, of course. Everybody does. Here's the thing, though. McIlroy has the shortest path to utter domination. That is, he has the fewest maladies to remedy to get to (and stay at) the top of the mountain.

What if he turns into Steve Stricker on the greens for a six-week stretch that coincides with a couple of majors? What if he can't miss a putt for 10 weeks and wins three straight majors to get to seven before the age of 30?

"Certainly he has all the tools to be able to do it -- it is just whether he has the desire and the willingness to give up some other things," said Nicklaus of the soon-to-be-married McIlroy. "And that's his call. I mean, whatever Rory does, he has established himself as one of the great players that has ever played the game. Whether he wants to be the greatest player to have played the game, that's his determination and it's his decision whether he wants to make that effort to try to do that."

Nicklaus goes on to note how marriage and having family changes you and how it's difficult to manage your time as you get older.

It's true that McIlroy, at the age of 27, is already a top five (and probably top three) European of all time. I've always thought of him as the best talent of the current generation and the golfer who will take (or has taken) the torch in the post-Tiger Woods era. But I've never thought of him as Nicklaus does: with the potential to be the best ever.

McIlroy won't ever win 18 majors because the era he lives in doesn't produce 18-time major champions. He probably won't even get to 10 because he doesn't want to play until he's 50. He doesn't want to beat balls forever like Vijay Singh.

But he does have a chance, as Nicklaus mentioned, to pull off a 12-year run that could put his face on the Mt. Rushmore of golf. Nicklaus, Woods, Hogan and McIlroy? It could happen. I don't think it will. But it could. Rory is good enough and I'm not even sure we've seen him at his absolute apex.