McIlroy has 'clear road ahead' to win more majors

TL;DR

Rory McIlroy, the world number two and two-time reigning Masters champion, feels a clearer mental focus for the upcoming PGA Championship compared to last year. After winning the Masters and completing a career Grand Slam, he has taken time to rest and reset.

Key points

Rory McIlroy is ranked world number two.
He is a two-time reigning Masters champion.
McIlroy feels a clearer mental focus for the PGA Championship.
He completed a career Grand Slam with his Masters win.
The 108th PGA Championship starts Thursday.

Rory McIlroyPGA ChampionshipMasters

World number two Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, the two-time reigning Masters champion, says he has a clearer mental focus for the PGA Championship than a year ago after taking his first green jacket (JAMIE SQUIRE)

(JAMIE SQUIRE/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/Getty Images via AFP)

Rory McIlroy brings a sharper mental focus into the 108th PGA Championship that tees off Thursday at Aronimink than he had a year ago after a historic Masters triumph.

The 37-year-old from Northern Ireland, who won last year's Masters to complete a career Grand Slam and end a 10-year major win drought, said Tuesday he has managed to rest and reset after defending the green jacket last month at Augusta National.

"Coming into this tournament feels a lot different than what it did last year," McIlroy said. "I've got some nice clear road ahead to try to get some more of these majors."

The six-time major winner could capture his third PGA crown this week, but more importantly has a much better vision of his game than this time last year when after achieving a major milestone struggled to 47th at the PGA at Quail Hollow, his worst major finish since 2021.

"Especially after the last couple of years, I need to take the time after the Masters to reset and decompress and get myself in the right mental space again to get myself up for this tournament and keep going for the US Open and The Open Championship," McIlroy said.

"I came into this tournament last year a little bit sort of uncertain of what my future was -- I conquered this thing that I wanted to conquer for so long, and I still hadn't really reset goals or found whatever that motivation was to keep going or go forward and set myself goals for the rest of my career.

"It probably took me a good few months to get to that point."

McIlroy took three weeks off after his latest Masters victory before returning last week at Quail Hollow, where he has won four times.

World number two McIlroy, who has a cameo in the new movie "The Devil Wears Prada 2", skipped Doral two weeks ago to attend a White House State Dinner.