Composed Rory moves on from meltdown memories

Rory McIlroy is glad to be back at Augusta National, believing he is a better player than 12 months ago, and wiser too than the kid who threw away the chance to win a Masters.

The US Open champion and world number two is also ready for a wide-open title chase, not just the duel with Tiger Woods so many people are predicting and the American media has already pitched at the level of a heavyweight title fight.

First, McIlroy, 22, has some baggage to lose from last year’s final-round collapse here, when his hopes of a maiden major win dissolved in agonising fashion on a Sunday in Georgia that most people had assumed would be a coronation after three previous rounds of near flawless golf.

He appears to have prepared himself for that, too, having banished some of those demons when playing practice rounds last week at Augusta National.

“The first time I played the back nine last week, obviously there’s memories that come back and memories that you probably don’t want,” McIlroy recalled with a chuckle.

“It’s fine. I got that all out of the way, and, you know, I’m just looking forward to this week and looking forward to trying to put myself in contention to try and win this thing.”

That disaster at the 10th hole, however, will live with McIlroy a long time, whether he likes it or not and the Holywood golfer managed to admirably field the inevitable questions about the triple-bogey seven that began with a tee shot that ricocheted horribly off a tree and came to halt between two cabins on the left of the fairway.

“I can’t believe how close the cabins are, they are only 50 yards off the tee,” McIlroy joked. “But it’s great to be able to laugh about it now.”

McIlroy acknowledged, however, that it was more than just that triple at 10 that cost him a Green Jacket 12 months ago and that the experience told him “that as a person and as a golfer, I wasn’t ready to win the Masters; wasn’t ready to win a major.

“I really needed to think about what I needed to do to improve mentally and in different aspects of my game to get better. I felt like I did that. So the big thing for me is it was a huge learning curve and I took a lot from it and was able to put some of the things I learned into practice very quickly, and that’s what resulted in winning the US Open a couple months after.

“Definitely a lot of things have changed in the last 12 months,” he said. “I definitely feel like I’ve come back here the same person but just with a different attitude. I think that’s probably the big difference.

“I mean, you still have to have fun out there. It’s not all business — it sort of is all business, but you want to try and have a little bit of fun.

“That’s the big change from last year to this year. I just feel like I’ve got a more... I came in here last year hoping to do well and maybe to have a chance to win or whatever. But this year, I’m coming in with the attitude that I want to win; I want to put myself into contention. So it’s a little bit more of a businesslike approach, you could say. ”

McIlroy has kicked on again in 2012, claiming the world number one ranking last month for a couple of weeks after holding off a resurgent Woods on the final day to win the Honda Classic in Florida. And with Woods building on that final round 62 at Palm Beach Gardens by winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the prospect of the golf’s biggest names going head to head for the Masters has been just too tempting to ignore in the golfing media.

McIlroy sees it differently, suggesting that there may be many other players not prepared to sit back and watch the suggested only show in town.

“You have to remember, there’s 80-plus players in this field. It’s not just about two guys or three guys or whatever.

“Every guy has to just think about themselves, and try and play the golf course as best they can. That’s all you can really do... you just have to concentrate on yourself.

“It’s nice to be getting all this praise and everything but you have to take it with a pinch of salt. I definitely don’t have the achievements Tiger has or nowhere near the level of success he’s had over the last 15 years. But hopefully I can one day even get close to that point.”