McIlroy turns to Wells Fargo as cure to Masters hangover

Rory McIlroy admitted he struggled to recover from his poor final round at the Masters.

In the week after his disappointing final round at the Masters, Rory McIlroy shied away from golf and the outside world.

His two-over 74 in the final round at Augusta National was better than just four players and left winner Patrick Reed out of reach, ending McIlroy's latest shot at a career Grand Slam. 

Speaking on Wednesday ahead of the Wells Fargo Championship, McIlroy – in his first tournament since the Masters – said he will be a bit rusty as he hopes to bounce back and contend again this season. 

"I didn't really do much for a couple of weeks after Augusta and sort of got back into it last week," McIlroy said after Wednesday's Pro-Am at Charlotte's Quail Hollow Club.

"It got to the point where [wife] Erica had to drag me out of the house and said, 'All right, we are going to go do something.' Once I got back into my routine, it was fine."

Quail Hollow is the perfect course for McIlroy to rebound from defeat. He is the only two-time winner of the Wells Fargo Championship and owns 11 tournament records.

He is the favourite to win for good reason, having recorded top-10 finishes in six of his seven starts. 

"There will probably be a little rust in there tomorrow, there was definitely some rust out there today," McIlroy said Wednesday. 

McIlroy, who turns 29 on Friday, still likes his chances of winning at Augusta before his career is over. Only five golfers have completed the career Slam in the modern era.

Even if the Northern Irishman does not win a green jacket in next year, he is proud of what he has accomplished before turning 30. 

"If you asked me when I turned 20 what I would have liked to achieve in the next 10 years, I'd say basically I have done everything that I would have wanted to on that list – maybe even more than that," McIlroy said.

"You are always going to look back at things you would have done differently, but at the end of the day and you look at the big picture at the things that I have accomplished and learned over the eight or nine years, it’s been a pretty good run and hopefully the next 10 years are even better."