McIlroy keeps cools ahead of big few weeks

Rory McIlroy is adopting a laid-back approach as he looks to continue his good run of form at this week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play (McIlroy 10/1 to win outright).

McIlroy heads into the event refreshed after taking a week off following his success at The Players Championship and there is a chance he could return to world number one if he picks another win.

However, the Northern Irishman is refusing to put pressure on himself and will take it one day at a time as he prepares to go up against Luke List, Justin Harding and Matt Fitzpatrick in Group 4.

“The big thing is winning my first match,” McIlroy said. “I haven’t been able to do that the last couple of years, win my match on Wednesday. So that’s the first step in the process. If I win seven matches this week, that would be awesome. But we’ll see what happens.

“But winning tournaments, getting to world No 1 and all those accolades, it’s a by-product of doing all the little things right. And I feel like I’m doing the little things right. And step by step they will add up to all that stuff that other people find important.”

The Masters is also fast approaching, a major that has so far eluded him after several near-misses, and again McIlroy has a new mind set ahead of Augusta National (McIlroy 7/1 to win the Masters).

“I think there’s a difference between a personal desire and a need, and I think I’ve separated those two,” he said.

“I would have said a couple of years ago, ‘I need to win a Masters. I need a Green Jacket’. But now it’s, ‘I want to. I want to win it. And I’d love to win it’, but if I don’t then I’m okay with that. And I think that is the difference.”

Odds subject to change.