Luke Donald has one piece of advice to give Rory McIlroy ahead of the Masters next month

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Rory McIlroy will probably feel that he can safely predict every single question he will face from the press once he gets to Augusta National ahead of the Masters next month.

Rory McIlroy looks set to be one of the favourites going into the Masters. The Northern Irishman has already won this year, having triumphed at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am for the first time in his career.

But what McIlroy does on the PGA Tour now has very little impact on his legacy in the game. It says everything about how good the 35-year-old is that it would feel like a real disappointment if he ended his career with four majors.

Obviously, a large part of that is down to how quickly McIlroy won all of his majors. His most recent came in 2014 – meaning that he has gone well over a decade without lifting one of the sport’s four biggest prizes.

Luke Donald offers Rory McIlroy some advice ahead of the Masters

And of course, he remains a Masters win away from completing the career grand slam. He has four top fives at the event, while he famously blew a four shot lead heading into the final round at Augusta National back in 2011.

So the pressure on his shoulders seems to ramp up every time he drives down Magnolia Lane. And speaking to The Sports Agents about the upcoming first major of the year, European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald shared what advice he would give McIlroy ahead of the Masters.

“Lots of storylines. Scottie Scheffler going to defend, he hasn’t played quite as well this year for his standards. Rory obviously, trying to complete the grand slam. I think if I was telling Rory anything, I’d be like, ‘just try and win number five, don’t think about the grand slam’. Just build the number of majors,” he said.

“Ludvig [Aberg] barely missed out last year. Obviously, I’m hoping for a European winner of course, but the Masters kicks off the start of the official season, and I’m certainly excited to watch.”

How Rory McIlroy has performed at the Masters

McIlroy had an amazing run between 2014 and 2018 where he did not finish outside the top 10 at the Masters. Meanwhile, he would finish second for the first time in 2022.

The problem for McIlroy is that he has gone into the majors in all kinds of form over the last decade. He has put himself in contention to win and fallen short – most notably, at the 2024 US Open – while he has left himself with too much to do before he has made his charge on Sunday.

Therefore, there does not seem to be any magic formula for McIlroy. What he does in the weeks before Augusta is almost irrelevant at this stage. Ultimately, McIlroy is probably going to need every single piece to fall into place to give him the platform to get across the line.

But the positives is he knows that he can get there – and once number five is wrapped up, it would be no surprise to see McIlroy win many more in quick succession.