McIlroy pledges to learn from Masters collapse

Rory McIlroy will become "the boy in the bubble" if he finds himself in contention for Major titles in the future.

McIlroy looked set to win the Masters on Sunday when he took a four-shot lead into the final round at Augusta, only to slump to a closing 80.

Now the 21-year-old Irishman feels he has learnt some valuable lessons on how to cope if a similar situation arises.

"It is very hard to keep yourself in the present and not think about winning or putting on that green jacket or walking up the last with a two or three-shot lead," McIlroy said.

"You need to keep that out of your mind. I did that for the most part.

"If I was giving advice I'd say don't read newspapers, don't look at the TV or anything like that.

"It's easy to say he's got a four-shot lead and if he keeps doing what he is doing he'll win, but it is a lot easier said than done.

"My advice would be almost put yourself in a bubble and don't let outside factors influence anything, whether that be newspaper articles, TV or anything."

McIlroy had a long time to reflect on what went wrong at Augusta, joining Masters champion and stablemate Charl Schwartzel on a long journey from Georgia to Kuala Lumpur for this week's Maybank Malaysian Open.

"It was a long journey here from Augusta. It probably took us about 30 hours but I'm feeling OK," McIlroy told a pre-tournament press conference today.

"I'm trying to get back in the saddle and put everything that happened last week behind me and I'm looking forward to getting going.

"When you travel like that you have a lot of time to reflect. I'm really just looking at the positives.

"I led that golf tournament for 63 holes. That's all I can look at. Everyone is going to have bad days. Mine just happened probably on the most important day of my golfing career.

"I'm a very positive person and I know I'll get over it. I'll learn from it. When I get myself back in that position if I have really learned from it, it won't happen again."

Despite being staged straight after the year's first Major, the tournament has attracted a quality field which also features world number one Martin Kaymer and Open champion Louis Oosthuizen.

"I was always going to come here," McIlroy added. "At the start of the year I knew Martin would be playing and Charl and Louis. It's going to be a great field. I'm excited to get out playing again.

"The conditions will be a lot different. The humidity, the greens will be different than what I've putted on the last few weeks. They'll be grainy and a lot slower. The opposition this week is tough.

"I've got to get over the jet-lag too so there is a lot to deal with. I'm excited to get out there, though. Hopefully, that will take over. I've the enthusiasm for getting out there and that will be enough."