No sooner had news been released Tiger Woods will contest next week’s Masters and World No. 1 Rory McIlroy has shocked the golf world confessing he is no longer in love with the game of golf.

It’s not that McIlroy doesn’t love golf as such or he wouldn’t be heading back to Augusta National striving to become only the sixth golfer in history to hold all four Major Championship titles.

But the love of the ancient club-and-ball game that once consumed every minute of the curly-haired only child of Gerry and Rosie McIlroy growing up the leafy Belfast suburb of Holywood bears no resemblance to the golf the 25-year old who will take to a seventh straight Masters and looking to win the coveted Grand Slam.

And when asked by your author if he his love of golf as strong as when you could not get him off Holywood Golf Club he bluntly responded:  “No!  When I was a kid if I spent a day away from the game I couldn’t wait to get back to the golf course.

“Now I can’t wait for a week off (smiling) but then that’s just nothing to do with the game.

“I still love playing great golf courses and playing with my friends, and playing with my dad like when I took a trip to Augusta after Doral with my dad and that was so good.

“But then I would be dishonest with myself if I said my love of the game is the same as before as it’s not.

“I still love the game but then I don’t love it like when I was growing up back home when it was just pure joy to get onto the golf course to play.

“Now I can leave the clubs alone for a week and be totally fine and you need that as the golf I play now is just a more intense style of golf.”

McIlroy relationship with golf has since he turned pro at the end of 2007 seen him earn more than Euro 25m on the European Tour and some $US 23.75m on the PGA Tour.

And though Forbes Magazine ranked him the 35th highest money-earner in 2014, McIlroy is the consummate money-making machine.

It’s said winning a Major Championship is worth upwards of $10m to the victorious golfer but then McIlroy’s now won four, so imagine what a Grand Slam is worth.

But then to McIlroy’s enormous credit he continues to be so conscious of his up-bringing and particularly the efforts of his parents in ‘going without’ for their only child.

“Look I have not worked a day in my life,” he said bluntly.

“What I do is not work. This is not a job. It’s an intense environment I play in and I’ve never been used to playing in intense environments so at times it’s just nice to get away from it for a while.

“So back in the days when I was a kid I never wanted to get away from it and that’s why I say earlier I don’t love it. I still love the game but it’s just not ‘I can’t wait to get out of the house as quick as I can to the golf course’ feeling.

“Don’t get me wrong as I still love doing that to go practicing and hitting balls but it’s just not the love as quite as much as it used to be.”

HARRINGTON LAST PLAYER LOOKING TO WIN THREE MAJORS IN A ROW.

McIlroy’s sure to be under intense scrutiny when he arrives at Augusta and not since fellow Irishman Padraig Harrington in 2009 has a player teed-up at Augusta having won the last two Majors ahead of the Masters.

And while Harrington was not as much under the media spotlight as will McIlroy he sought to treat it as another tournament on route to eventually sharing 35th place behind Angel Cabrera.

“It’s a major so it’s another chance to win another Major,” said Harrington on the eve of the 2009 Masters.

“It’s a chance to win the Masters. All of those things bring their own pressure. Just because I’m trying to win three in a row, it adds to it, but not significantly. It doesn’t make the pressure any different of turning up at any major and trying to win it.

“I know if I prepare right and play right and go out and play my golf, it’s possible for me to win and to be in control of me winning.

“So that’s the pressure and I know I can do it. I have to be able to bring it to the table every time — well, not every time, but sometimes. Regardless of what’s going on outside with you guys and whether it’s three in a row or another Major, it’s just the fact that I know I can do it. So that brings its own level of pressure every time you tee it up in a major.”

FIRST THOUGHT OF GRAND SLAM AFTER WINNING 2012 PGA C’SHIP

McIlroy admitted he first harboured thoughts of a Grand Slam soon after his eight-shot victory in the 2012 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.

“I was halfway to a Grand Slam when when I won at Kiawah and that was sort of the point when I started to think about the Grand Slam,” he said.

“So I wouldn’t mind pretty much being alongside those guys who have won a career Grand Slam and I feel like if you have been able to win the four Majors you are pretty much a complete player as you have been able to win in different conditions, win on different golf courses with different set-ups.”

HAS TO PLAY AUGUSTA’S PAR 5s BETTER.

But then if Bubba Watson is to fit the coveted Green Jacket to McIlroy, McIlroy knows he’s going to have to play Augusta’s par 5s better.

In fact, McIlroy was level par for the 16 par 5s over the four days last year at Augusta and finished eight shots behind Watson who was eight under par on the par 5s.

And if you look at a random sample of 30 players with at least three starts at Augusta who have either won the Masters, a Major or a PGA Tour event, or been ranked in the top 20 within the last two years, then McIlroy ranks 29th in sub-par scoring average – at an average of 0.954 under par per round on the par 5s at Augusta.

Only Keegan Bradley is worst having played 10 rounds at Augusta to be eight under par on the par 5s.

Though when compared to Watson, who averages 2.083 under par per round on the par 5s, it’s clearly apparent McIlroy needs to address this aspect of his Masters play.

“I do have to play the par 5s better and be more efficient on the par 5s and I guess give myself more looks,” said McIlroy.

“I feel at times I have hit a great shot at Augusta but the ball will finish eight foot the wrong side of the hole and it’s like I will just take my two putts and walk off with par.

“If you were 20-feet the other side of the hole you would have a much better chance of making birdie so it’s just about managing my way better around the golf course.

“You just have to use a little more thought and just use a little more imagination, so that will be the big thing for me and that is being a little bit more thoughtful and taking better advantage of the par 5s because with my length there I can reach all the par 5s without even taking driver off the tee.

“So it’s all about being a little smarter and play the par 5s in 12-under par that would be a good target.”

The closest McIlroy says he’s come to the excitement and sheer build-up of what he can anticipate next week should he win the Masters as a 15-year old attending the 2004 Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills.

And while he’s entertained thoughts of winning the Masters not for a moment has McIlroy given himself the liberty of being fitted for a green jacket.

“No, never have I ever considered being fitted for a green jacket,” he said.

“It’s not that I haven’t I dreamed of winning Augusta because I have.

“It’s just that I haven’t got into the specifics of who would put the jacket on me or whatever.”

Should McIlroy’s love of this ancient game stay true then the answer to that question is Watson.