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World number seven McIlroy will be the
third-highest ranked player competing in this week's Farmers
Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Club in San Diego, which
will be the second of seven tournaments over an eight-week span
for the Northern Irishman.
McIlroy has not competed on the PGA Tour since earning a share
of fifth place at last November's Masters that motivated him to
cram his playing schedule to start 2021 after what he described
as a quiet spell since Augusta.
"I felt like I sort of stopped last year on quite a positive
note the way I played at Augusta and I just wanted to try to
keep that going into the start of this year," McIlroy, 31, said
on Wednesday.
"I feel like the more I play, the more I'll get comfortable with
my game and know where it is. Yeah, I just thought it was a good
opportunity to sort of hit the ground running this week."
McIlroy, who will play the first two rounds this week alongside
four-times major champion Brooks Koepka and 2020 U.S. Open
runner-up Matthew Wolff, has top-five finishes in his only two
Farmers Insurance Open starts.
"It's long, so I think I can take advantage of my length pretty
well," McIlroy said of the South Course at Torrey Pines, which
will also host this year's U.S. Open in June.
"Then if I'm on with my irons, I feel like the greens are maybe
a little smaller on average than what we get week in, week out
on Tour, so with the second shots it's -- if you're feeling it
with your irons, you can really take advantage of that."
While McIlroy expects the South Course to be set up much tougher
come June, he feels a good showing this week could prove
beneficial in his quest for a second U.S. Open triumph.
"If I can go out and play well and shoot three good scores on
the South this week, it will give me some confidence going into
June," said four-times major champion McIlroy.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond)
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