Masters 2017: 5 contenders and favourites to watch for

#4 – Rory McIlroy

AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 24: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland tees off on the 3rd hole of his match during round three of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at the Austin Country Club on March 24, 2017 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Rory McIlroy, unlike Jason Day, has enjoyed a good 2017 campaign so far building on the great end that he enjoyed in 2016 by winning the FedEx Cup in emphatic fashion.

He started his seaosn right where he left off in 2016 and came close to winning at the BMW-SA Open on the European Tour in his first week before he had to sit out his next few scheduled events and as a result he missed the PGA Tour Florida swing.

He has since recovered and played in three events in the month of March recording two top 10 finishes and a T-30 at the WGC Matchplay event in Austin.

McIlroy’s best finish at Augusta so far is a fourth-place nod in 2015. He has his own demons at this course, having had a late failure in 2011 that was similar to Spieth’s last year.

McIlroy has three straight top-10 finishes at Augusta, and he’s currently ranked second in the world. The 27-year-old has four major championships in his career, though he hasn’t gotten one since 2014.

However, it remains one of his biggest goals to accomplish for the rest of his career and he will want to get over the bump sooner rather than later. A win at Augusta would aslo mean the completion of the career grand slam for him.

McIlroy’s putter continues to be streaky and he might have been able to contend at the Arnold Palmer Invitational had it been for some of those crucial putts falling after he joined the leaders. He has worked a lot on his short game in his time off due to injury and that might pay dividends at Augusta but it is his street fighting determination witnessed at last year’s Tour Championship that could count for a lot this week.