Houston, TX …

Past Master champion, Jordan Spieth may have singled out Bubba Watson as favourite next week to win a third Masters but says all the pressure will be on the shoulders of Rory McIlroy.

McIlroy squeeezd in the first of two further Augusta National practice rounds (Wednesday) and will play a second Thursday.

And while McIlroy and caddy, Harry Diamond make themselves more familiar with the year’s first Major Championship venue Spieth is looking to find a lost game by again contesting the Houston Open at the Golf Club of Houston course in suburban Humble.

An animated Jordan Spieth ahead of this week’s Houston Open. (Photo @tourmiss)

Spieth, and now at World No. 4, will look to draw on memories of having been runner-up in Houston in 2015 and then went to Augusta a week later to sensationally capture a first Major.

But when asked he thought had the most pressure on his shoulders next week, Spieth singled out Rory McIlroy and with McIlroy ‘Take Four’ in his goal to win the one Major to still allude his grasp.

“I think the only person who should feel any pressure on — actually, there’s nobody who should really feel any pressure on them, but I would say Rory has the chance to within the career Grand Slam,” said Spieth.

“That’s something that he truly wants and so if there’s one week a year that if he said he could win one tournament at the beginning of every year, he’ll probably pick Augusta, and therefore he puts more emphasis on it.

“I still don’t feel he should feel any pressure and he probably will feel just the normal championship pressure he feels every week.”

Spieth will tee-up in his fifth Masters having enjoyed results of 2nd (2014), 1st (2015), 2nd (2016) and 11th last year while he is competing this week in Houston where he finished a best of second in 2015  before heading to Augusta to capture the first of now three Major Championships.

But given this downturn in form Spieth was quizzed if he felt more at ease heading into the Masters in not being mentioned as an Augusta favourite.

“No, it doesn’t make a difference to me at all,” he said.

“I don’t care either way. We believe that if we go about our step-by-step goal and check all the boxes next week, then we’ll have a chance to win. I don’t really care who’s on the other side, but it will be fun.

“It will be interesting to see who we’re paired with. I know they’ve done the other three mayor winners in the past and Brooks is out, so that would be Justin and somebody else. So it could be a fun couple days in that sense. I’m not sure how they’re going to work the pairings.

“We’ll just get in there and try and go through the same process every year there.”