Golf:McIlroy Masters

Rory McIlroy admits his Masters record is a
source of disappointment and he cannot
imagine ending his career without a green
jacket.
McIlroy is the bookmakers' favourite for the
year's first major championship, although the
former world number one's best finish at
Augusta National remains his share of 15th in
2011, when he held a four-shot lead going into
the final round but collapsed to a closing 80.
"I'd be disappointed if I ended my career and
wasn't able to go up and have breakfast in the
champions' locker room," McIlroy said.
"The way I play golf, the way my game is,
Augusta does set up well for me. And for me
not to have a top-10 coming into my sixth
Masters..."
McIlroy already has two major titles to his
name after winning the US Open in 2011 - just
two months after his Masters meltdown - and
the 2012 US PGA Championship, both by eight
shots.
And the 24-year-old would love to take the
third step towards a career grand slam by
winning a Masters title that has evaded greats
of the game like Greg Norman and Ernie Els.
Take control
"You can look at someone like Greg Norman,
or the person that I look at is Ernie Els,"
McIlroy added. "He sees Trevor Immelman
winning, he sees Charl Schwartzel win. He
sees all these young South Africans; Louis
Oosthuizen (losing) in a play-off.
"He should have won it in 2004 when Phil
Mickelson birdied two of the last three.
Mickelson was due a major at that point but
he had never finished like that to win one, and
all of a sudden he does. I think Ernie probably
goes back every year and feels like that is the
one that got away.
"I don't want to get to that point but I am 24,
not 44. It would be great to win one sooner
rather than later. It is the same with every
competition; you don't want to wait too long
for these things to happen. You want to take
control of them yourself.
"Five players have won the career grand slam,
I was looking at that the other day. I was
looking at the ages; Tiger Woods was 24, Jack
Nicklaus was 26. I think three people have
done it in their 20s.
"There is no timescale, I have a lot of years
left. I would love to do it. It's something that
would be a huge achievement, to put yourself
on that list."