World No. 1 Rory McIlroy admits he’s got a 10-15 year window remaining to dominate the game of golf.

McIlroy was speaking on the eve of his Australian Open defence in Sydney, and a victory last year along the shores of Sydney Harbour that kick-started an incredible 2014 season.

However the 25-year old is very conscious that the changing shape of his  body, and the product of three years of weight training, along with a doctors advise in 2010 that he was in danger of developing a back stress fracture, there’s a time limit he can continue to dominate the ancient game.

“I’m 25 now and I figure I’ve probably got a 10 or 15-year window of trying to play great golf and winning big tournaments and I’m going to do everything I can to be as successful as I can,” he said.

“But if you look at when I started doing (weights) and my success on the golf course … there’s definitely a correlation there.

“It all started about three years ago when I was struggling with a bad back. At one point in 2010 I was going for MRI scans every four weeks – just to see if I had a degenerative disc problem.

“While it wasn’t as bad as that, the doctor did say the problem could turn into a stress fracture which would put me out for a year.

“That’s when it really hit me. When I said ‘right, I really need to do something about this’.

“The first six months was a lot of corrective work. But now I can lift heavier weights like the ones you saw (on Twitter) last week and really enjoy it.

“It’s become a lifestyle and definitely helped my golf.”

But then McIlroy already has won four Majors and needs only to win a Masters green jacket to write himself into golfing history,

Rory McIlroy admits he’s staring at a 10-15 year window where he can continue to dominate the game

“I know that if I play the golf I’m capable of, I’ve got a chance to do something pretty special in this game,” he added.

“It’s a matter of putting the time in to make sure I don’t just stay where I’m at. I’m trying to get better and better because I know all the guys who I’m competing against are trying to do the same thing.”

And while the attention could be suffocating McIlroy says the intense focus he’s drawn to himself in a few short years is something he had to grow accustomed to.

“I have a schedule on my phone for every day whether I’m at a golf tournament or not,” he said.

“I mean, I could tell you what I’m probably going to do in four months time, in March or whatever. That’s the way my life has gone. It’s very structured and very scheduled. I’ve just got to make sure that I put the adequate time into focus on my golf because ultimately that’s what’s got me into this position.”

And very much like Australia’a own Adam Scott, McIlroy is already one of the universally popular men of the professional golf tour, so the notion of a heavyweight championship for the Emirates Australian Open this week feels foreign to him.

“It’s hard to have a rivalry with someone like Scotty, he’s such a nice guy,” the Northern Irishman said today as he round out preparations for defending the title he won at Royal Sydney a year ago.

Rory McIlroy practicing on the Australian Club course ahead of this week’s defence of his Emirates Australian Open title. (Photo – Anthony Powter/www.golfgrinder.com)

But whatever the world No. 1 and world No. 3 say this week, they will not be able to control their billing as a pair of golfing Ali and Fraziers; the fact they came down the 72nd hole together last year, with McIlroy triumphing, only adds to the feeling that this is a rematch.

McIlroy, who kickstarted his brilliant 2014 with his win last year, dismissed the folly of a two-horse race this week, but acknowledged that Scott’s ball-striking and overall excellence drew the best from him. “If you’re playing with Adam he does make you play your best golf. He’s such a great player. He rarely misses a shot. The only way you can live with that is by doing the same thing.”

McIlroy had his second look at The Australian today, pronouncing it “tricky around the greens”. He practicised on Monday with Ryan Ruffels, the 16-year-old Australian junior champion with whom he has a friendship, and with Todd Sinnott, the rocket-launching Australian amateur who actually hit it past him a couple of times. He liked Adam Scott’s description of Ruffels as “a mini touring pro already”, and predicts big things for him.

Most of all he’s happy to back in Sydney, scene of a win that turned his career back upward.

“I just had a great week, I really did as Sydney’s one of my favourite cities in the world and we had a great time,” he said,

“I played really well and was able to get the win, my only win of last year and a very important one, especially the way I was able to do it. I think I annoyed quite a few Australians preventing Adam from getting the triple.”

But then don’t mention it as also in Sydney on New Year’s Eve last year he got down on one knee to propose to Caroline Wozniacki.