McIlroy's best performance in his career

McIlroy's best performance in his career

"I'm fine. It was a great chance to win a first major, but it's only golf at the end of the day. No one died," McIlroy said as he prepared to defend his title starting Thursday in the Wells Fargo Championship. "I can't come off and sulk and say, 'Oh, this is the worst day of my life.' Because a bad day on the golf course is better than a good day in the office."I'm very happy with my life, very happy with what's going on, very happy with my game. And there are three more majors this year and hopefully dozens more that I'll play in McIlroy Brings Good Memories To Charlotte my career."The last major, however, was a nightmare. At 21, McIlroy was trying to become the second-youngest winner of the Masters and took a four-stroke lead into the final round. He still led by one heading to the 10th tee despite a 1-over par 37 on the front. But proving once again that the Masters doesn't truly begin until the back nine on Sunday, McIlroy shot 43 on the inward nine and fell into a tie for 15th."I don't think I was ready," McIlroy said. "I hit the ball really well that week, the best probably I've ever hit it. It was more mental than anything else, just trying to handle the situation better. Not rushing. Hopefully I'll deal with it better the next time that I'm in one of those situations. I displayed a few weaknesses in my game that I need to work on.

"Don't listen to you guys," McIlroy said Norman told him. "From now on, don't read golf magazines, don't pick up papers, don't watch the Golf Channel. But it's hard not to. Obviously you want to keep up to date with what's going on. But you can't let other people sort of influence what you're thinking and what you should do."I've taken my own views from what happened a few weeks ago and moved on, and that's the most important thing."Tapping into fonder memories helps, too. Last year at Quail Hollow, McIlroy blew away the field by four shots, closing with six consecutive 3s on his card and shooting a back-nine 30. That final round came rushing back to McIlroy as soon as he arrived at the course on Monday.