Saturday 25 March 2017 07:07, UK
Rory McIlroy believes a lack of competitive action won’t be an issue when he bids to complete a Grand Slam at next month’s Masters .
The world No 2 failed to qualify for the last 16 of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in only his fourth appearance of 2017, following a rib injury ahead of the opening major of the year at Augusta.
McIlroy lost his Group Two opener against Soren Kjeldsen and saw his second fixture awarded to him after Gary Woodland withdrew from the competition due to a "personal family issue", before halving his dead rubber against Emiliano Grillo on Friday.
The Northern Irishman has now set his focus towards the opening major of the year in the fortnight's time, where he is hoping for Masters victory to become only the sixth player in the modern era to win all four majors.
"I'm going to go up to Augusta and play a couple of practice rounds next week. I've already been up there once this year, so the more times I can get up there and get comfortable with the place the better.
"It would've been nice to play a little more competitive golf going in to Augusta, but every time I've teed it up since I've the injury I've felt like I've hit it well.
"I've felt fresh and I've felt healthy, so hopefully that freshness can help me through and help me at Augusta. As much as everyone says they want to peak for Augusta, everyone out here is doing something different every year.
It's a very fluid process and this year it has been a bit of a different build up for me because I haven't played that much, but hopefully that'll be in my favour.
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