The Northern Irishman says he was not ready to win at Augusta last year but he has had a full year to be ready now
Rory McIlroy did not win the 2012 Masters on Tuesday but he took a significant step towards the prize, spring-cleaning away the final wreckage from that infamous afternoon last year when his frailties were exposed. "As a person and as a golfer I wasn't ready to win the Masters," he said in a session that skipped lightly through the pre-tournament platitudes and went straight to candid self-examination.
"I really needed to think about what I had to do to improve mentally and in different aspects of my game to get better. I feel like I have done that."
Famously the Northern Irishman entered the final round here 12 months ago with a four-shot lead and ended up visiting corners of the Augusta National course that had seldom been visited before, at least not by the tournament leader on a Sunday afternoon, on his way to a round of 80. It was a humbling experience, the kind of day that could wreck a career. But not that of McIlroy, who said the healing process had started before the worst experience of his nascent career was over.
"I laughed with JP [Fitzgerald – his caddie] walking off the 18th green last year," he said. "I knew my chance to win the tournament was over by the 13th hole, so I had five holes where I just played golf and could reflect on what happened straight away."
The problems 12 months ago were both psychological and physical. He approached the prospect of winning his first major with an intensity that is just not part of his mental make-up. "Watching back the tape from that day it was obvious I was trying to be too focused, too perfect. I normally have my head up, looking around at other people," he said. "That day my shoulders were hunched, I was looking at the ground. I was very insular."
More practically the pressure of a final-day lead exposed the weaknesses in his putting. Within days he had contacted the American-based short-game guru Dave Stockton, who has worked successfully with Phil Mickelson among others. "I think there has been a big improvement in that aspect. I feel a lot more natural. There is a lot more feel in my stroke, which is something I've worked on really hard with Dave."
Within weeks of his Augusta disappointment McIlroy won the US Open at Congressional. He was a major champion. Some suggested he was "the future of golf". He was frankly embarrassed by the boldness of such pronouncements, though no one should mistake this for a strain of modesty that might be harmful in a top-flight sportsman. McIlroy might be prone to bouts of intelligent introspection but he is no wall-flower. He controls his own destiny and he controls it with a heavy hand. "A lot has changed in the last year," he said on Tuesday.
By that he meant a new approach to the game and a markedly different, more muscular, physique. He retains his home back in Northern Ireland but his main base these days is in Palm Beach, Florida, where he has rented a home for the summer. His private and business lives have also been transformed. He has a new girlfriend – the tennis player Caroline Wozniacki – and he has new management. In has come Conor Ridge, a low-key Dubliner who runs an agency called Horizon Sports. Out has gone Andrew "Chubby" Chandler, of ISM. Warm statements were exchanged when this split was announced but sources suggest that the young man born and bred in Holywood had, among other things, become uncomfortable with Chandler's high profile in the media.
Inevitably such wholesale upheaval has wrought what might diplomatically be described as collateral damage, not least in McIlroy's relations with Chandler and the stable of players he left behind. Most noticeably, his relationship with Lee Westwood, world No3 and a long-time Chandler client, has cooled. Once upon a time they were dining companions. These days McIlroy does not even follow his old pal and sparring partner on Twitter.
"The only reason I unfollowed him [Westwood] is that he tweets so much. He fills up your timeline," McIlroy said in a recent interview, which stretched credulity like an elastic band. The enmity exists, make no mistake about that, and any suggestions to the contrary should be taken with a hatful of salt. To his credit McIlroy embraces candour like an old friend but one has to wonder what the reaction from his old management company was this week when he accused them of leading him "down the wrong path" by, among other things, persuading him to give up his PGA Tour card in 2010.
"That's another example of being involved with Chubby and ISM and maybe being led down the wrong path, or a path that I didn't want to go down. It was something I sort of felt like I had to do. I think just spending a little bit of time around Chubby and Lee and hearing their view of the PGA Tour – obviously they're very pro-European Tour – while I've always been one who wanted to play on the PGA Tour,"' McIlroy said.
Asked on Tuesday if he had any response to his former stable-mate's comments, Westwood was brusque. "What path was that?" he said.
The Englishman has been around too long to get involved in a verbal sparring match, particularly on the eve of a major championship, but it is safe to assume the 22-year-old's comments will have been filed away for future reference. No one needs help to motivate himself at the Masters but a little extra fuel never does any harm and Westwood will have plenty.
He has come close at Augusta a few times in the past and is perhaps playing the best golf of his career, certainly from tee to green. He arrives here a genuine contender in any right-thinking assessment of the week's prospects. Yet he finds himself overlooked, a bit-part player in what Sports Illustrated magazine dubbed this week as the "Tiger and Rory Show".
"You know, something like that," he said, hesitating in search of the right phrase. "We all know what articles like that are. But you know Rory has never won here. Tiger hasn't won here [since 2005]. So everyone would have to be naive to think this is going to be a two-horse race. Phil might have something to say about that. Luke [Donald] might. I might."
In February Westwood and McIlroy met in the semi-final of the world matchplay in Tucson. It was in its own quiet way one of the highlights of this or any other year – crammed with brilliant play and the tangible electricity of an intense personal rivalry. One needed only to look at the jubilation on McIlroy's face to appreciate how much the win meant to him. Likewise Westwood looked crushed.
Sports Illustrated may be right. The 2012 Masters may turn out to be the Tiger and Rory Show. There would be much to savour about that but, if Sunday's final round turns out to be the McIlroy and Westwood Show, then strap in tight and hold on to your hat. It could be a contest to remember.