Rory McIlroy finally wore the green jacket at the Masters last year.\u00a0Ramsey Cardy\/Sportsfile via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy<\/a> will drive down Magnolia Lane at Augusta National as a Masters champion for the first time and he intends to enjoy the experience.<\/p>\n However, just because he is only the sixth player to win the career grand slam by finally getting his hands on a green jacket does not mean his competitive instincts have been dulled.<\/p>\n In fact, having got over the line at the 17th attempt the Northern Irishman believes it will be easier to win it again.<\/p>\n “This is going to be the first time I drive down Magnolia Lane and it’s all going to be about enjoying my week,” the world No. 2 said.<\/p>\n “You know, enjoying the perks that come along with being a Masters champion: having a parking space in the champions car park to using the champions locker room, hosting the dinner on Tuesday night.”<\/p>\n But when the pomp and circumstance subsides on Thursday McIlroy will get his game face on and try to join Jack Nicklaus<\/a>, Tiger Woods<\/a> and Nick Faldo<\/a> — and become the first person in 24 years — to win back-to-back.<\/p>\n His form in two events last month was not that encouraging but McIlroy is hoping a return to arguably his most emotional victory will offset that.<\/p>\n – Tiger Woods said he was ‘talking to president,’ footage says<\/a> “I’ve won it once, and I feel like that will make it a bit easier for me to win again,” he added.<\/p>\n “I don’t think there was any round of golf that I’d played before that can compare to the feelings and the emotions I went through that Sunday.”<\/p>\n Expectation may not weigh as heavy but he will still be expected to contend and the same can be said of world number one Scottie Scheffler<\/a>, a two-time Masters champion, whose form is also the most inconsistent it has been in the last two years.<\/p>\n He pulled out of the Texas Children’s Houston Open in his home state as wife Meredith is expecting their second child and if he was looking for a good omen their son Bennett was born just weeks after his second Masters victory in 2024.<\/p>\n Time at home, which he values over anything else, may allow him a reset and even with his record at Augusta — he has finished fourth, first, 10th and first in his last four appearances — rivals may also view it as chink in the armour.<\/p>\n
– Phil Mickelson to miss Masters due to family health matter<\/a><\/p>\n