No sooner had Rory McIlroy captured a record-setting fourth Hero Dubai Desert Classic title and he found himself facing a Masters drought related question.

McIlroy has become also only the second player to win the Desert Classic back-to-back while he’s now also won back-to-back tournament victories only for a second time in his 38 tournament winning career, having captured the 2021 and ’22 CJ Cup on the PGA Tour.

His win at the host Emirates Golf Club comes 13-years in winning a first pro career title at the 2009 hosting of the event while the ‘W’ helped to erase some of his disappointment of letting slip victory a week ago at the inaugural Dubai Invitational.

However, as McIlroy proudly strode into the Desert Classic media centre he found himself after just two questions facing a question on his thoughts on an event 82 days away, taking place from 11th to 14th April, and a question as to what does it do for his confidence heading to Augusta National winning early in the season.

Rory McIlroy captures a 38th tournament of his pro career yet there’s no escaping the one event he’s yet to win.

Indeed, of McIlroy’s 38 career victories just seven have been in the period from January to April, and in looking at his career wins there’s been just one month on the calendar when has not tasted success – April.

“Augusta is still a long way away in golfing terms and a lot can change in two-and-half months”, he said.

“But it’s always nice to get a win. It’s always nice to feel like you’re playing well going into it. I’ve always said that I’ll take execution over preparation every single time because you just you have to execute the golf shots, especially there.

“I think last year at Augusta, I learnt a lot about myself and I learnt a lot about — I’ve told this story numerous times now about the first green on Friday, and Brooks was on the eighth green and I saw the big leaderboard, and I was already ten behind at that point. I was ten behind after two days this week and ended up winning the golf tournament. That’s a massive — I feel like I’ve taken that learning already and put it into practise a little bit already. Yeah, that’s a huge thing for me.

“But you know, everything now is, yeah, I’ve still got some big events to come but you know, I think from now until that first or second week in April, you know, at least a part of my mind is going to be towards getting myself absolutely ready for there”.

As McIlroy mentioned, there’s still much ahead to savour for McIlroy before making a 16th straight yearly drive along Magnolia Drive.