Rory's recipe for Masters success

AUGUSTA, Georgia — World No 2 Rory McIlroy believes he has "all the ingredients" in place to finally win the Masters, having picked up "scar tissue" from his past experiences at Augusta National.

The Northern Irishman, who has won every major except the Masters, has been putting in the hours at Augusta, having played 81 holes by Tuesday.

And with his recent troubles with his driver now behind him, the 33-year-old is in a calm and confident mood.

"I'm feeling as relaxed as I ever have coming in here. I feel like my game is in a pretty good place. I know the place just as about as well as anyone," McIlroy said Tuesday.

"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 has had his share of pain, as well as promise, at American golf's most iconic venue and memories of his 2011 final-round meltdown linger.

As a 21-year-old, McIlroy started the final round with a four-shot lead but finished it 10 strokes back after a nightmare on the back nine that saw him triple-bogey the 10th hole, where he ended up in the grounds of the adjacent cabins.

Last year, he struggled in the opening two rounds but then came within a stroke of the course record with a brilliant round of 64 that earned him second place behind winner Scottie Scheffler.

McIlroy says the highs and lows have all contributed to his evolution as a player at Augusta.

"You have to learn from those challenges and learn from some of that scar tissue that's built up," said the 33-year-old.

"I felt last year that I maybe shed some of that scar tissue and felt like I sort of made breakthroughs.

"You probably learn a bit more from those bad experiences and I feel like I've done pretty well at sort of putting those lessons into my play and being better because of them."

McIlroy said his periodic troubles at Augusta had usually been to do with the way he has approached rounds in his mind rather than any stroke or technique issues.

"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," he said, adding that he had been working with sports psychologist Bob Rotella ahead of this year's tournament.

But he also believes he has paid the price for slow starts to the Masters.

"It has been tentative starts, not putting my foot on the gas early enough. I've had a couple of bad nine holes that have sort of thrown me out of the tournament at times," he said, noting that Augusta National remains a tough course to chase on.

Many observers have suggested the four-time major winner has a game well-suited to the famous course, and while McIlroy doesn't dissent from that view, he questions its relevance.

"They said the same thing about Ernie Els, Greg Norman," he said of two of the game's greats who never managed a Masters win.

"Look, it's a factor and it's nice to know that I come back to this place every year and that if I play the way I know that I can, that I should have a good chance," he said.

"I don't need to do anything differently this week. I go out and play the way that I know that I can, get myself in with a chance to win, and then those last couple of hours on Sunday, it's not about whether the course sets up well for you, it's about who can hold it together the best."

Tour truce

The world's greatest golfers face each other on Thursday for the first time since the bitter LIV Golf-PGA Tour split divided the sport and appropriately it is the timeless tranquility of Augusta National that provides the arena.

Given the tradition of the Masters tournament, with the famous winner's green jacket, the striking absence of advertising, the pristine course and the palpable sense of historic significance, it is perhaps not surprising that both sides of the divide caused by the breakaway Saudi-backed LIV Golf League have been observing an informal cease-fire.

Legal battles remain to be fought and the name-calling may well resume next week but the words of those involved in the first major tournament of the year have been a refreshing acknowledgement that Augusta is no place for public squabbling.

"I think this tournament is bigger than all of that," said McIlroy.

"It's a narrative and a storyline, but the Masters and the four major championships sit above all that noise, and that's the way it should be this week."

Not everyone received the memo. LIV Golf's chief executive officer, Greg Norman, talked in a pre-tournament interview of the entire LIV contingent being ready to crowd around the 18th green to celebrate a victory by of one of their 18 competitors.

But it was noticeable that McIlroy, who has been one of the most partisan backers of the established PGA Tour, chose to practice on Tuesday with one of the top LIV contenders, American Brooks Koepka.

McIlroy has been rotating top spot in golf's rankings with current world No 1 Scheffler and Spaniard Jon Rahm, and they are among the favorites to triumph on Sunday at the end of what is forecast to be a rain-affected four days.

"You've seen just a pretty high level of consistency from us so far this year," defending champion Scheffler said.

"We've been pretty close to winning most of the elevated events."

McIlroy would complete the career Grand Slam with a victory on Sunday while Rahm would become the fourth Spaniard to win at Augusta after Seve Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia.

AFP