Does it give people something else to talk about ? Yes, but I'm not necessarily listening to anything that anyone is saying, so doesn't really make a difference to me.' That Rory McIlroy is coming into the Masters with blinders on is little surprise. He's got a chance to become only the sixth player to win a career Grand Slam with a win here, and he's prepared meticulously for his attempt to conquer a course that seems made for his game but has consistently given him fits. He did it mostly out of the tournament spotlight, working on his game the last few weeks near his Florida home.

Rory McIlroy

Categorized in : Sports

To see them putting so much into it even after 15 successful years... it was great for me to see. It was inspirational in some ways.

It was nice to be in that little world for a couple of days and e... by Rory McIlroy

It was nice to be in that little world for a couple of days and experience it.

The game's just not quite there. I've got a week off now to try and work on it a little bit, i am pretty disappointed with how I played overall. I felt it was a little better again today for the most part but a bit of a disappointing finish. But it's just not quite 100 percent.

(I'm) tentative, a little bit scared to play certain shots, because I feel like I can't at the minute. So, hitting away from flags, trying to make sure that I am missing it in the right areas. Just playing quite conservatively, which is very much unlike me, i have just got to get back at it tomorrow and try to figure out what I need to do.

It was heat of the moment, if it had been any other club, I probably wouldn't have. But I didn't need a 3-iron for the rest of the round, so I thought,' Why not ?'.

Felt good at the time. by Rory McIlroy

Felt good at the time.

As you saw out there, it's quite frustrating at times. by Rory McIlroy

As you saw out there, it's quite frustrating at times.

You're trying to shoot the best score possible and sometimes you do things that you wish you hadn't, frustration got the better of me.

It is very good on the range and it is very good in normal play when I'm not playing a tournament, then I've got a card in my hand the last couple weeks and it just hasn't quite been there. It's nice you can get round rounds this week and sort of try to play your way into some sort of rhythm. I don't feel like it's that far away. That's the frustrating thing.

I think I'd rather have the questions, because it's obviously a great position to be in going into Augusta and having it be the only major that I haven't won, it's not a bad position to be in. There's always excitement and anticipation and hype that surrounds Augusta every year, and I feel it regardless if I'm going in as the favorite or under the radar or whatever.

There's always hype, there's always buildup. My name is getting thrown around a little bit more than it used to, but I'm OK with that.

I just practiced and played a little bit, and at least I know going into this week where my game is, so even if things maybe don't go my way at some point during the round, I'll know how to manage it a little bit better. Excited to get back at it and obviously try to put in a better performance than last week.

It's nice to have my name up on the board, i would play Seminole quite a lot when I'm at home, probably once a week. So to walk into that locker room all the time and have your name up there on the board, the Pro-Member board, it's a pretty cool board to look at. You have all the greats of the game that are basically up there.

I don't like missing cuts, you want to be playing on the weekend, and I'm not there. I'm not going to be playing this weekend, which is not nice.

I don't feel like I controlled my ball flight well at all, which you need in the wind, that wasn't something that I did particularly well. I guess the last three weeks, I haven't really practiced in many crosswinds. I felt like I struggled in crosswinds out there the last couple of days.

I guess after coming off a three-week break, and then felt a little ... I wouldn't say rusty, but just not quite on top of my game yesterday, and then today, I felt like I was trying to get something going and couldn't. Coming off three weeks off and playing in conditions like these, it sort of shows you where you're game is at. Just got to regroup and put some work in and get ready for Miami next week.

I guess after coming off a three-week break, I felt, I wouldn't say rusty, but just not quite on top of my game yesterday, and then today I felt like I was trying to get something going and couldn't. Coming off three weeks off and playing in conditions like these, it sort of shows you where your game's at. I've just got to regroup and get ready for Miami next week.

I'm pissed off. I don't like missing cuts. You want to be playing on the weekend, and I'm not going to be playing which is not nice.

Walking from 14 green to 15 tee, I said to Brooks, 'Let's just make a couple birdies on the way in, try and get something out of it,' luckily, I was sort of able to do that. But it was tough. When nothing is going your way and you don't really have anything to feed off, you don't see many good shots and guys ... we're all struggling. It was a grind out there. We'll all go home and put our feet up and get ready for tomorrow.

I shot better today than I did the previous time I played here, so it's a little bit of an accomplishment.