BY BRENDAN JAMES at Augusta National

At 24, Rory McIlory can already claim to be a Masters veteran. But his underachieving efforts at Augusta thus far bely his talent and his suitability to the golf course.

He’s making his sixth appearance in the Masters this week and he’s never been more determined to win the Green Jacket. His motivation is the disappointment he feels when he looks at his Masters record – five starts, no wins, no top-10s, with a best finish of a tie for 15th, which was back in 2011 when he held the lead with nine holes to play.

Ask if his career would ever be complete without a green jacket? The immediate and frank "no" reply tells the story.

"I'd be disappointed if I ended my career and wasn't able to go up and have breakfast in the champions' locker room," McIlroy said. "The way I play golf, the way my game is, Augusta does set up well for me. And for me not to have a top-10 coming into my sixth Masters …"

McIlroy has the fire in the belly again after a 2013, which was almost a write-off with the exception of his win over Adam Scott in the Australian Open at Royal Sydney in December.

With two top-10s already in big events in 2014, as well as a closing 65 at the Houston Open last weekend, the Northern Irishman is fielding questions again about his golf game – not his engagement, not his equipment, not his management … the decks have been cleared and he can dare to dream that he can get back to the form that earned him two major championships in 2012. He wants more majors, he wants a career grand slam and the Masters is on top of his to-do list.

Rory McIlroy drives in practice at Augusta yesterday. His game is well suited to the famed layout. PHOTO: Getty Images

"You can look at someone like Greg Norman (who never won a Masters), or the person that I look at is Ernie Els," McIlroy says. "He sees Trevor Immelman winning, he sees Charl Schwartzel win. He sees all these young South Africans; Louis Oosthuizen in a play-off. He should have won it in 2004 when Phil Mickelson birdied two of the last three. Mickelson was due a major at that point but he had never finished like that to win one, and all of a sudden he does. I think Ernie probably goes back every year and feels like that is the one that got away.

"I don't want to get to that point but I am 24, not 44. It would be great to win one sooner rather than later. It is the same with every competition; you don't want to wait too long for these things to happen. You want to take control of them yourself.

"Five players have won the career grand slam, I was looking at that the other day. I was looking at the ages; Tiger Woods was 24, Jack Nicklaus was 26. I think three people have done it in their 20s.

"There is no timescale, I have a lot of years left. I would love to do it. It's something that would be a huge achievement, to put yourself on that list."

For the first time since he won the US PGA in 2012, McIlory is in a good place with his life and his golf.

“Yeah, mind, body, equipment, it's all there,” he said. “There's no excuses. There's no excuses if I don't play well this week.

“Everything's in the right place to allow me to play well. So it's just a matter of managing my expectations, not getting ahead of myself, not thinking about Sunday when it's Friday afternoon. Just really keeping myself in the present and in the moment and trying to take it one shot at a time and hopefully those shots add up to about 270 and I walk away with a Green Jacket.”

McIlroy and amateur Matthew Fitzpatrick share a joke during their practice round in preparation for the Masters starting Thursday. PHOTO: Getty Images

Having had his practice round and range time washed out by the storms on Monday, McIlroy had a lengthy session on the practice tee before playing a few holes with young Englishman, Matthew Fitzpatrick, the US Amateur Champion.

He said the rain had softened up the course but he expected it would dry out and be in perfect condition by Thursday afternoon.

“But by the time Thursday comes around, they have the SubAir under the greens, under the whole course, actually; and there's going to be warmer temperatures, some better weather, by Thursday afternoon, the course should be in great shape and it should be firm again,” he said.

“It will obviously present a really good test. I'd like to see that, because soft conditions seems to bunch the field up a little bit. So firmer greens and firmer conditions definitely separates it, which is a good thing.”

RORY’S MASTERS STATS

Masters played:   5

Cuts made:   4

Rounds Played:    18

Money Won:    $297,440

Scoring Avg:   72.44

Low Round:    65

Rounds Under Par:    9