Rory McIlroy in no rush to win Masters

• World No.1 urges patience ahead of season’s first major
• Victory would complete the career grand slam for Rory McIlroy
• ‘This isn’t going to be the only Masters I play in’

With the Masters just five weeks away, world No.1 Rory McIlroy admits that he’s not going to be too despondent if he fails to slip into a Green Jacket this year and, in doing so, complete the career grand slam.

Victory at Augusta National next month would see the Northern Irishman become just the sixth player to have won all four of golf’s major championships, following in the illustrious spikemarks of Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

However, at 25, he insists that he still has plenty of time to do so if he doesn’t manage it this year.

“I think there’s a bit of a false sense of urgency because this isn’t going to be, touch, wood, the only Masters I play in for the rest of my career,” said McIlroy ahead of this week’s WGC-Cadillac Championship getting underway. “I will hopefully have many more opportunities to try and win it.

“Hopefully all those shots at the end of the week add up to a score that’s lower than everyone else’s.” – Rory McIlroy

“But after my previous couple of performances in the majors, I can see why it has got like this.  I mean, I’m going for three majors in a row, going for my first Masters. If I win Augusta, I have the chance to hold all four at one point. There are a lot of story lines.

“I’m trying not to think about it too much, though. Just go in there and prepare as best as I can, and try and execute the game plan as well as I can, and if I can do that, then hopefully all those shots at the end of the week add up to a score that’s lower than everyone else’s.”

Despite a couple of humbling experiences at Augusta in recent years – not least carding 80 in the final round in 2011 to squander a four-shot 54-hole lead – McIlroy insists he feels ‘very comfortable’ on the fabled Georgia course.

“It just so happens that this is the one that I haven’t won yet,” said McIlroy. “It’s not a bad thing.”

Rory McIlroy :: Will he win the Masters?

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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor