Rory McIlroy was well-prepared for this reporter's Masters question
Rory McIlroy says he will now turn his attention to the 2024 Masters after starting 2024 in superb fashion in the Middle East.
Rory McIlroy re-shared an interesting tale from his disastrous 2023 Masters after he defended his title at the Dubai Desert Classic.
The 34-year-old made a par at the 72nd hole at Emirates Golf Club on Sunday to defeat Poland's Adrian Meronk by one shot.
Overnight leader, America's Cameron Young, finished two shots further back.
It meant that McIlroy won the tournament in the Middle East for a record fourth time.
The Ulsterman has now surpassed Ernie Els' record of three wins he shared with the Big Easy.
Of course, McIlroy is now looking to build momentum towards the 48th Masters in April.
He has previously declared his intentions to play more events leading up to the first major of the year at Augusta National.
McIlroy missed the cut for only the third time in his Masters career last April.
The disaster at Augusta National culminated a fraught year in which McIlroy became the unofficial PGA Tour spokesperson in the battle against LIV, reclaim the World No.1 ranking and suffer a heartbreaking loss to Cameron Smith at the landmark 150th Open at St. Andrews.
After the 2023 Masters, McIlroy then forfeited millions of dollars in bonus money for skipping the designated RBC Heritage on the PGA Tour.
"It sucked," McIlroy previously said of going home early at last year's Masters.
On Sunday, a reporter asked McIlroy: "You've gone to Augusta having won early and not won early.
"Does that make a difference even to your mindset or your confidence at this point?
In a detailed response, McIlroy touched on how leaderboard watching is sometimes not a great thing to do.
Especially when Brooks Koepka is charging ahead.
"Look, Augusta is still a long way away in golfing terms," McIlroy said. "A lot can change in two-and-a-half months.
"But it's always nice to get a win. It's always nice to feel like you're playing well going into it.
"I've always said that I'll take execution over preparation every single time because you just you have to execute the golf shots, especially there."
He continued: "But I think last year at Augusta, I learnt a lot about myself and I learnt a lot about -- I've told this story numerous times now about the first green on Friday, and Brooks was on the eighth green and I saw the big leaderboard, and I was already ten behind at that point.
"I was ten behind after two days this week and ended up winning the golf tournament. That's a massive -- I feel like I've taken that learning already and put it into practise a little bit already.
"I've still got some big events to come but you know, I think from now until that first or second week in April, you know, at least a part of my mind is going to be towards getting myself absolutely ready for there."
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