The Masters 2016: ‘Of course I want to dominate – but I don’t know if that is possible,' says Rory McIlroy

Ulsterman pines for 2014 form when he – not Spieth or Day – was unbeatable

Rory McIlroy lines up a putt during a practice round in Augusta (Getty)

It sounded like a state of the nation address, a proclamation of intent, a road map to restoring one of the greatest talents in golf to the summit of the game. It was Rory McIlroy at the Masters, responding to the challenge of Jason Day and Jordan Spieth at the first major of the season.

That the Masters remains the only major McIlroy has yet to win colours the narrative. That Spieth and Day have made serious gains in the wrestle for hegemony in the post Tiger Woods era adds a dynamic the like of which golf has not seen since Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player bossed the landscape.

McIlroy was first into the post-Tiger void with his back-to-back major wins at the Open and PGA Championship in 2014. This was packaged as the prelude to joining the grand slam dots here a year ago, the historical import of such a feat being unmistakable since only five have signed off on that project in the history of the game.

It didn’t happen. Spieth happened. McIlroy snapped an ankle ligament in high summer and saw Day swing into the frame with victory at the final major of the season before positing back-to-back wins this term in the build-up to Augusta, assuming the world No 1 ranking as a result.

McIlroy has come close three times to posting victory on the PGA Tour this year but arrives here without a win in the United States for 11 months. As if in sympathy with the discrepancy between ambition and returns, McIlroy has changed tack by retreating into his inner circle and sharpening his focus behind quasi closed doors.

There has been nil pre-Masters media exposure outside the tournaments he has played. He has withdrawn from the high-profile distraction that is the par-three tournament today and has chosen to practice in pared down conditions, playing only one ball to recreate the tensions and vibe of tournament play.

You sense a golfer fit to burst, ready to charge across Augusta with biceps flexed in classic pose. And when he stands over that ball ready to unleash the forces of bio-mechanical hell he is looking not at a white orb but the features of Spieth or Day.

“Jordan wins the first two majors of the year then he very nearly did something no one else ever in the game has been able to do, win four in one year,” McIlroy said. “When he was on his run, I was one that was saying, ‘no, he can’t keep holing these putts, he can’t keep doing it, and he kept doing it’.

Last year's winner Jordan Spieth sporting his green jacket (Getty) (2015 Getty Images)

“He’s a phenomenal talent and it’s my job and everyone else’s to try to stop him dominating. I should be doing that. Of course I want to. I want to dominate. I want to go back to the summer of 2014 and play like that for the rest of my career.

“Whether that’s possible or not remains to be seen, but I know that’s a level that I can play at, and I’d love to be able to do that more consistently. That’s why I’m practising and working hard to do that.”

It is, in McIlroy’s thinking, a matter only of time before he drapes a green cloth over his shoulders. He knows how well suited his game is to this terrain, those high tracers that fly for miles and fall from the sky like butterflies surely can’t be denied for ever.

“I feel like I’m a good enough player. I feel like I’ve got everything I need to become a Masters champion. But I think each year that passes that I don’t, it will become increasingly more difficult. So there’s no time like the present to get it done.”