Rory McIlroy has chosen to give this week's Cognizant Classic a miss, opting instead for a round at Augusta alongside his father, Gerry, and the National's chairman, Fred Ridley. The defending Masters champion shook off the cobwebs last weekend with a tied-second finish alongside Kurt Kitayama at the Genesis Invitational, just one stroke behind victor Jacob Bridgeman, pocketing £1.3million for his efforts.

Whilst the same prize pot awaits the Cognizant Classic winner, the 36-year-old McIlroy is placing greater importance on 'working on some things' rather than competing in the PGA Tour event he conquered back in 2012 to claim the world number one spot for the first time.

Following the Cognizant Classic, the Northern Irishman admitted he'd squandered the opportunities he'd created for himself. Yet when questioned about the cruel timing of finally sinking a putt on the 18th hole, he downplayed its importance.

McIlroy said: "No, not really. It probably earned me an extra 400, 500 grand, so it's fine," alluding to the additional £445,000 in prize money secured by finishing joint-second instead of tied-third.

"I'll rue basically all 18 holes yesterday and then the front nine today, like 27 holes where I failed to capitalise on the chances I gave myself. Once I started to trust my reads a bit on the back nine, and I went more with my first instinct, I putted a little bit better.

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"I was reading too much into them, and then I'd see Jacob's [Bridgeman] putt from the other side do something, I was like, 'oh, that looked like it went more left than he thought it would', so I'm sort of factoring that in. I was almost just giving them too much thought and not going with my first instinct, and that sort of cost me."

Having sat out the opening stages of this year's Florida swing, McIlroy's upcoming schedule includes the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship. His most recent triumph at the invitational came at Bay Hill in 2018, with his nearest attempt at repeating that feat occurring three years ago when he finished joint second with Harris England, one stroke behind Kitayama.

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The five-time major champion is, however, the defending Players champion following his playoff victory over J. J. Spaun last year, joining an exclusive group of just seven players to have claimed the title on multiple occasions, having previously won in 2019.

Reflecting on his form, McIlroy commented: "I feel like my game's in really good shape.

"I'm looking forward to getting on some Bermuda greens over the next couple of weeks, but it's feeling good, it's feeling much better than it did in Dubai, which is a big step in the right direction. I just have to keep working."

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