JORDAN SPIETH'S victory at the Masters will kick-start a "proper rivalry" with world No.1 Rory McIlroy, according to Colin Montgomerie.

Spieth's four-shot, wire-to-wire victory at Augusta moved him up to second in the rankings, and the Texan said he is "looking forward to getting in the heat of the moment with [McIlroy] a couple times in the near future and see if we can battle it out and test our games."

Montgomerie said: "I do think it can be a proper rivalry, like Jack [Nicklaus] and Arnie [Palmer], when they were swapping majors back and forth."

And Nicklaus, who has won more major victories than anyone with 18, echoed Montgomerie's claim and believes the Tiger Woods era is finally over.

"I am someone who likes the new generations," Nicklaus said. "I always have. I think it energises the game.

"We had Arnold's generation, then it came to my generation, then Tom Watson came along and right on down the line to Tiger and Rory. And now we have Jordan Spieth.

"There are some older players who have been terrific for a long time, but actually this might be time for the young guys to take over."

On Spieth's win, he added: "It was an incredible performance. It was so apparent that he learned down the stretch when finishing runner-up last year, but you have to remember he was only 20 at the time.

"Now he's a grizzled veteran at 21 years old - just 21. Jordan is so beyond his years. I like everything about the young man. He's polite. He's humble. He handles himself so well, on and off the golf course. And he's obviously a wonderful player and now a Masters champion.

"I think Jordan Spieth is a great person - just as I think Rory McIlroy is - to carry the mantle for the game of golf."

Meanwhile, Justin Rose has revealed that a Novak Djokovic-style diet has left him "feeling better than ever before" and makes him readily able to extract the many positives from a performance which would have been worth at least a play-off in 13 of the past 14 Masters tournaments.

Only David Duval previously knew what it felt like to shoot 14-under around Augusta and leave Georgia without a green jacket.

While Rose is understandably disappointed not to become the first European to win the Masters in 16 years, he believes the new regime, which he began a month ago, has helped him to turn the corner after a woeful start to the campaign.

Rose initially sought out a dietician to assist with his allergies, but he soon discovered the extra benefits of the healthier lifestyle. Rose feels that it has helped with his flexibility.

"I have given up gluten, like Djokovic. It worked for him - he is a little whippet," Rose said. "I reckon I have lost eight to 10 pounds and I feel so much better for it. My joints feel amazing, no soreness, no early-morning creaks. It has been amazing.

"I'm still training and still lifting in the gym and have kept my strength up. It's just the unwanted stuff that's disappeared, but I did go back on the beer on Sunday night."

Surely nobody would begrudge him that. In fact there was plenty to celebrate for the 2013 US Open champion, who burst back into the world's top 10. Having missed three cuts in four events and then finished outside the top 30 at the Houston Open in the week before Augusta, this was what he called a "momentum starter".

He said: "There's two ways to look at it. You can think that I shot 14 under and I'll take that next year and the year after that and take a lot of confidence from that. But you've got to play it on the day, too. I felt like there were moments in which I could have done better and I'll learn from those moments and think about them.

"But overall, I was happy the way I stuck with it, and to come here with not a lot of form so far this season, to finish tied second [with Phil Mickelson] is obviously a good result. I feel like my season is now under way."