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McIlroy capped a closing 64 at Augusta National in style when he
holed out for birdie from a greenside bunker on the 18th hole to
finish runner-up to Scottie Scheffler at the Masters.
The Northern Irishman, speaking to reporters at TPC Potomac at
Avenel Farm on his 33rd birthday, said he does not feel any
added pressure going into the next 10-week stretch in which
three majors will be contested.
"If anything it gives me comfort knowing that my game is there.
And no, not more expectation or pressure," McIlroy told
reporters.
"That's always been there, but I got a lot of confidence from
that round on Sunday. I did a lot of great things. It's
something to definitely build on over the next few weeks."
McIlroy, who has suffered plenty of heartache at Augusta
National, began the final round 10 shots behind Scheffler but
produced the only bogey-free round of the week and matched the
lowest final-round score in Masters history to finish three
strokes back.
The four-times major champion will look to carry that form into
the Wells Fargo Championship, one of four PGA Tour events at
which McIlroy has collected multiple victories (2010, 2015,
2021) and the only one he has won three or more times.
Traditionally played at Quail Hollow Club, the Wells Fargo
Championship is being held at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm this
year to accommodate the 2022 Presidents Cup, which will be
contested at Quail Hollow in September.
McIlroy, looking to become the first player to win an event
back-to-back at two different courses since Brooks Koepka at the
PGA Championship (2018, 2019), had never played the TPC Potomac
layout until this week.
"You can't really fake it around here," said McIlroy, who played
18 holes on Tuesday and another nine on Wednesday.
"You've got to hit the ball really well, green complexes are
tricky, pretty small targets, the rough maybe isn't up as much
as they usually have it here because of the time of year, but
overall really solid test."
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond)
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