Rory McIlroy finished runner-up to Scottie Scheffler at Augusta National and is looking for a first major success since 2014; Watch The Masters exclusively live this week on Sky Sports Golf - coverage of the opening round begins on Thursday from 2pm
Tuesday 4 April 2023 18:34, UK
Rory McIlroy believes he has eradicated some of the past ‘scar tissue’ at The Masters and has 'all the ingredients' to complete the career Grand Slam at Augusta National.
The world No 2 arrives as one of the pre-tournament favourites to end his major drought and become just the sixth player to win the Grand Slam, having enjoyed top-10 finishes in half his previous 14 appearances.
McIlroy famously squandered a four-shot lead during the final day of the 2011 and has enjoyed several near-misses since, although now aims to go one better than his runner-up finish to Scottie Scheffler in last year's contest.
"I felt last year that I maybe shed some of that scar tissue and felt like I sort of made breakthroughs," McIlroy said in his pre-tournament press conference. "I'm feeling as sort of relaxed as I ever have coming in here just in terms of I feel like my game is in a pretty good place.
"I know the place just as about as well as anyone. I've always felt like I have the physical ability to win this tournament, but it's being in the right head space to let those physical abilities shine through.
"It has been tentative starts, not putting my foot on the gas early enough. It's been -- I've had a couple of bad nine holes that have sort of thrown me out of the tournament at times.
"I've got all the ingredients to make the pie. It's just putting all those ingredients in and setting the oven to the right temperature and letting it all sort of come to fruition. But I know that I've got everything there. It's just a matter of putting it all together."
McIlroy finished no worse than eighth in the four majors last year and won three times on the PGA Tour, including FedExCup success at the Tour Championship, with the Northern Irishman also topping the DP World Tour rankings before starting 2023 with Hero Dubai Desert Classic victory.
Equipment changes have seen McIlroy reverting to an older putter and shortening his driver shaft in preparation for The Masters, with the four-time major champion impressing at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play last month to give him confidence going into the opening major of the year.
"There have been players before that it has been said that this course is tailor-made for them and they haven't went on to win a Green Jacket," McIlroy added. "That's always in my mind, too.
"Just because a place is deemed perfectly set up for your game, it doesn't automatically mean that you're going to win it one day. There's more to it than that. There's also been players that you would think this golf course wouldn't set up well for them, and they have won a Green Jacket.
"It's a factor and it's nice to know that I come back to this place every year and that if I played the way I know that I can, that I should have a good chance. I don't need to do anything differently this week."
Six former Masters champions are among the 18-strong LIV contingent in the field this week, with McIlroy explaining why the tournament itself is far more important than any potential disagreements between players from rival tours.
"I see some of these [LIV] guys at home," McIlroy explained. "I see Brooks [Koepka] a lot, I see DJ [Dustin Johnson] a lot, we sort of practice at the same place. I think the more face time you get with some people, the more comfortable you become in some way.
"It's a very nuanced situation and there's different dynamics. You know, it's okay to get on with Brooks and DJ and maybe not get on with some other guys that went to LIV, right. It's interpersonal relationships, that's just how it goes.
But this week and this tournament is way bigger than any of that, I feel, and it's just great that all of the best players in the world are together again for the first time in what seems to be quite a while."
Watch The Masters throughout the week live on Sky Sports! Live coverage of the opening round begins on Thursday from 2pm on Sky Sports Golf.
