World No.1 Scottie Scheffler admits he would be a "pretty miserable person" if he allowed his bad golf to define him.
The four-time major winner has, by his high standards, endured something of a dip in form since backing up victory in his first event of the year with successive top-four places.
His three events since have been characterised by late-tournament comebacks after poor first rounds – he has not broken 70 in his first 18 holes since that win at The American Express in January – but even then his finishes have been tied 12th, tied 24th and tied 22nd.
But he feels comfortable at Augusta.
"Once you drive down Magnolia Lane, everything else melts away."
"Most of the time in golf, you're probably going to be a little bit disappointed at the end of the week just because there's only one winner and there's a lot more losers than that," he said.
"I would say it's always been a battle for me trying to strike a balance between continuing to work hard, staying competitive and also not having either my good golf or my bad golf define me.
"If I let my bad golf define me, I'd be a pretty miserable person.
"If I let my good golf define me, whether or not it's a Green Jacket or an Open Championship, then I'd walk around pretty arrogant all the time, and I wouldn't be very nice to people because I think I'm hot stuff because I won a few golf tournaments."
On comparing his recent form to previous years going into the tournament, he added, "That's a tough one. I try not to look too far in the past, I try not to look too far in the future.
"For me to think about that, that would take a little bit of work, which I don't want to do right now."
Scheffler will be looking to reclaim the honour of the Green Jacket, having twice had it taken away from him – by Rory McIlroy last year and Jon Rahm in 2023.
He was asked how much easier it was to win the Masters as a former champion, compared to successfully defending the title, which only Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods have done.
"I think defending can always be difficult, but that's mostly just the odds of winning a tournament in back-to-back years," he added.
"That's just extremely challenging, especially when you look at these major championships.
"There are some obligations, and like at this tournament, there's some stuff that's completely new. I think everything's new when you're a first-time defending champion here."
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