Rory McIlroy believes his decision to play more often in advance of this year’s Masters Tournament will not only benefit his chances of winning a first Green Jacket but also success for the remainder of the season.
The Northern Irishman arrives in Georgia for a tenth title at the career Grand Slam buoyed by a third-place finish at the Valero Texas Open at the weekend - his best result of the PGA TOUR season so far.
McIlroy began the year in fantastic fashion as he won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic for a record fourth time in January, a week after finishing runner-up at the Dubai Invitational.
Those results mean he is the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex leader, with the Masters beginning a four-month stretch in which a Major is contested each month.
With no missed cuts across his eight starts worldwide this year, McIlroy believes he has the knowledge about his game to best manage his latest bid for a long-awaited fifth Major victory.
"I think it's been beneficial to play a little bit more this year leading into not just this tournament but the spring and the summer," said McIlroy, who is making his 16th Masters appearance.
"I think I'm a little more in tune with where my game is and where my misses are... I think, once you play a lot, you learn just how to manage your game a little bit better instead of if you haven't played that much and you're a little rusty.
"And I just think that patterns emerge the more that you play. I feel like I've got a big enough sort of data set of rounds to sort of know how to manage what I'm doing right now. So I think that's been a good thing."
The wait is over. The 88th Masters week is here. #themasters pic.twitter.com/nVLBANcISn
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 8, 2024
McIlroy recorded his best result at Augusta in 2022, when a closing 64 - the joint-lowest final round in Masters history - saw him finish second behind Scottie Scheffler.
The world's leading two players have been grouped together for the opening two rounds in Georgia alongside Xander Schauffele.
But it is not just in 2022 that McIlroy has produced impressive performances at Augusta, with six top tens in seven starts from 2014-2020 so his understanding of the challenge that awaits is among the best and he is preaching patience as key strategy for the week.
"I would say not trying to win it from the first tee shot. I think that's something that I've tried to learn. It's a 72-hole golf tournament," said McIlroy.
"This golf course gets you to chase things a little more than other golf courses, if you make a bogey or if you get yourself out of position, because it always tempts you to do something you think you can do.
"And I'm pretty confident in my golf game. I think I can do most things, but sometimes you just have to take the conservative route and be a little more disciplined and patient."
I think I can do most things, but sometimes you just have to take the conservative route and be a little more disciplined and patient
It is for that reason, that five-time Green Jacket winner Tiger Woods was in no doubt when he was asked whether McIlroy will emulate the American as a winner of the career Grand Slam.
Asked whether it meant a lot to him personally that Woods said so, McIlroy replied: "Yeah, it's flattering. It's nice to hear, in my opinion, the best player ever to play the game say something like that.
"Does that mean that it's going to happen? Obviously not. But he's been around the game long enough to know that I at least have the potential to do it.
"I know I've got the potential to do it too. It's not as if I haven't been a pretty good player for the last couple of decades."
Earlier this month, McIlroy revealed he had consulted Woods' former coach Butch Harmon for advice on his game during a visit in Las Vegas, particularly with a view to his iron play.
It is not the first time the pair have worked together, and McIlroy admits the American coach is as much a sounding board as a tutor to him.
"He's part sort of psychologist, part swing coach. Like I always joke about you spend four hours with Butch and you go away with two swing tips and 30 stories. But you always go away hitting the ball better than when you came.
"So, it was really beneficial trip for the technical side of things, which I think I made progress in that department last week, especially with my strokes gained approach numbers, which is what I really wanted to do.
But, it's also just spending time around someone like that that's coached a lot of the best players in the world and sort of him giving you his blessing on things, I think that's nice validation as well."
