Rory: I can win six times this season

RORY McILROY is convinced he is on course to deliver one of those seasons where he wins five or six tournaments. The Northern Irishman has returned to the scene of his last victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational with the best stroke average on tour this year and four top-five finishes from four starts. ‘It’s 12 months since my last win, but I am doing all the right things to get back to those five or six-win seasons,’ he said. ‘It seems like there are always one or two people play better than me any week but there’s nothing to get frustrated about if you’re playing well yourself.’ There have been times when McIlroy (below) has added tournaments before the Masters as he’s unhappy with his game. Not this time, with another try at the career Grand Slam only five weeks away. ‘I couldn’t be happier with my game right now. If it’s like this in another month, that’ll do for me,’ he said. As for the season’s first major, McIlroy had an erudite answer for his American audience when asked whether he was getting impatient at having not completed the Grand Slam in four attempts. ‘Let’s not forget how many elections Abraham Lincoln lost, and he wound up being President of the United States,’ he said. For the record, Lincoln lost eight. The 29-year-old has finished inside the top ten on each of his last four starts at the Masters and was in the last group in the final round 12 months ago, only to shoot 74 and end up six shots behind winner Patrick Reed. Admitting that the enormity of sealing the Grand Slam by winning the Masters has affected his game at times, McIlroy said: ‘It’s taken me time to come to terms with things inside my own head. I’m too much of a fan of the game, I know who has won the Grand Slam and who I’d be putting myself alongside. Maybe if I didn’t know the history it would work in my favour.’ McIlroy claimed the Arnold Palmer tournament last year with a finish of six birdies in his last seven holes. By his side that day was Justin Rose, playing yesterday for the first time since he won in San Diego a month ago — and cheesed off at being replaced at the top of the world rankings by Dustin Johnson by one thousandth of a point. Rose, who needs a top-17 finish here to reclaim top spot, said: ‘It’s extra motivation, for sure. I like being world No 1.’ The 38-year-old is one of eight Englishmen in the field while Martin Laird is the lone Scot.