Rory McIlroy is relishing the challenge of creating Players Championship history as he bids to make the first successful defence of the title at TPC Sawgrass.
McIlroy landed his biggest victory since winning his fourth major in 2014 at the PGA Tour's flagship event last year, holding off a fast-finishing Jim Furyk to claim a one-shot triumph and the first of his four wins worldwide in a stellar 2019 campaign.
The 30-year-old is well aware that nobody has been able to defend the title since the tournament was established in 1974, but he insisted he did not need any extra motivation to perform at the Stadium Course this week.
"It is an opportunity for sure," said McIlroy, who has posted four consecutive top-five finishes in his four starts in 2020. "I don't think you ever need an extra motivation when you come to this golf tournament, but to be the first one to defend here would be very cool.
"And I think this golf course can play so differently day-to-day, depending on wind direction and conditions. It is such a cliché here, but it really doesn't suit any one style of play or any one type of player.
"I'm sure there's been people in the past that have had opportunities to maybe defend and have had their chances and finished well up there, but I'd love to give myself a chance. If I can keep playing the way I've been playing and get myself into contention on Sunday, it would be something extra to play for, which would be pretty cool."
McIlroy missed the halfway cut on his first three appearances in golf's unofficial fifth major when it was staged in May, but he found the conditions more to his liking last season when the tournament was moved back to its original slot in mid-March.
"I think strategy was part of it," added the world No 1 when asked about his keys to victory last year. "I was probably more stubborn back then than I am now and trying to overpower this golf course with a driver, when in May you couldn't do that.
"The first time I played here, the weekend before I was in Vegas for a fight and then probably didn't prepare the best way possible and missed the cut and ended up getting kicked out of bars in Jax Beach for having a fake ID. So I've come a long way!
"But I think just learning to play the golf course a little bit better, tempering my willingness to hit driver all the time. At least now in March I can hit driver a little bit more, but I had to learn to play the golf course the right way when it was back in May.
"Off the tee, the course plays a lot longer in March than it does in May, so I was able to hit driver a lot more. The fairways are a little softer, so the course plays a touch wider."
McIlroy is also looking forward to a return to "target golf" after struggling to cope with the firm and fast conditions last week at Bay Hill, where he opened with a 66 before a pair of 73s and a closing four-over 76 left him four-strokes adrift of Ryder Cup team-mate Tyrrell Hatton.
"This week is not going to be like the last couple weeks, it's still pretty soft out there," he said.T"he greens have the potential to get firm if the weather forecast stays the way it is, but I can't see the fairways getting overly bouncy and firm.
"It'll be a little more sort of target golf, I guess, but it has the potential to get a little firm over the weekend and the greens to get a bit of speed. But I certainly don't think you're going to see single digits under par winning this week."