ORLANDO, Fla. -- This past week, Rory McIlroy has shared a workout room with Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, joined Jack Nicklaus for an impromptu lunch and sat down for planned dinner with Arnold Palmer.
If he would work in a round of golf with Michael Jordan, read Ben Hogan's "Five Lessons" and get some health tips from Gary Player, is there any doubt that McIlroy will be wearing a green jacket in a couple of weeks' time at Augusta National?
It is pure coincidence that McIlroy shot his best score on the PGA Tour this year on the morning after Palmer held court for two and a half hours at his beloved Bay Hill Club & Lodge, where Arnie picked up the tab for the table of five and insisted that McIlroy indulge in a banana split before departing.
Player, a noted diet stickler, might disapprove, but he surely would embrace the idea of McIlroy's soaking up as much knowledge as possible from Palmer, one of the game's legends, a seven-time major winner who, at age 85, still commands one of the highest endorsement incomes in the game.
"It was fantastic, it really was," said McIlroy, who finished tied for sixth through 36 holes, 5 shots off Morgan Hoffmann's lead. "He's telling stories of the old days and talking about a few of the things he's done more from a commercial standpoint, the drink [his Arnold Palmer lemonade and iced tea] and golf courses and all this sort of stuff. ... stuff that I could be getting into in the future.
"In 60 years as a professional golfer, and commercially obviously he's done very well, and a lot of the chat was about that and he was very close with his father just like I am. It was great to be in his presence and great to be in his company, and I had a good time."
Forbes recently reported that Palmer ranks among the top retired athletes in endorsements, earning $40 million in 2014. Not bad for a man who is more than 40 years past his last victory on the PGA Tour.
Undoubtedly some of that staying power was discussed.
At the dinner was Palmer's longtime agent from International Management Group, Alastair Johnston, tournament director Scott Wellington and McIlroy's manager Sean O'Flaherty, who came away equally impressed.
"It was just amazing to be in his company," O'Flaherty said. "It's like reading a history book."
Among his favorite stories? Palmer told them how he played golf with President Eisenhower after winning the Masters for the first time in 1958. On that Sunday, Palmer got word that the president wanted to play with him the following day.
Palmer didn't waste any time saying yes and he became a friend of the president, who was an avid golfer and Augusta National member.
"I thought it was really good for Rory," O'Flaherty said. "Arnold was very alert, very engaged. It was a great night."
To date, Nicklaus has been a more frequent resource for McIlroy. The two met for the first time in 2009, when McIlroy was playing the Honda Classic. Nicklaus recognized him in a Palm Beach Gardens parking lot and introduced himself, welcoming the golfer to his nearby Bear's Club.
That is eventually where McIlroy chose to base his Florida practice operations, and they've remained in contact since.
"To have that at my disposal is ... I mean it has to be an advantage in some way," McIlroy said last year after they met prior to the U.S. Open.
"I had a great conversation with Jack and I feel very honored that I'm able to call him up for advice, if I need to. And he's been very generous with his time."
McIlroy didn't have a great U.S. Open, but he did go on to have a fantastic summer, winning the Open Championship, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship in consecutive starts.
That put him in position to secure the career Grand Slam -- another topic he might want to discuss with Player (one of just five golfers with a career slam) -- as well as a third consecutive major, something achieved by only Hogan and Tiger Woods in the modern era.
Ultimately what McIlroy is doing with his clubs right now will likely have more impact on his ability to win the Masters in three weeks. He appears to have worked out a few of the struggles that held him back at the Honda Classic and the WGC-Cadillac Championship, his first two PGA Tour starts of 2015 that brought a missed cut and a tie for ninth.
McIlroy finally shot in the 60s for a PGA Tour event in 2015 on Friday, with a 66 that matched his second-lowest score of the year (he had six of eight rounds in the 60s, including a 64, in European Tour events) and put him in contention at Palmer's tournament.
"Nice to be in the mix," McIlroy said.
Palmer is undoubtedly thrilled. He joked two years ago that "he would break his arm," if McIlroy didn't play at Bay Hill. Palmer was somewhat irritated that the young golfer had yet to visit his tournament.
Now that he has, all is well.
"I'm very happy to have him here," Palmer said. "I think it's nice that he has come. He told me earlier that he was coming, and I think he'll snap things up and make it very interesting and he'll play well. I'm sure he'll play well here."
So far he is, while soaking up some legendary knowledge along the way.