No sign of a Masters hangover for Rory McIlroy as green-jacket holder remains in contention at Truist Championship

In the absence of a green-jacketed monkey on his back, the most Rory McIlroy need contend with ahead of the season’s second major next week appears to be the odd patch of rust on his swing.

Going by his performances in the final warm-up at the Truist Championship in Philadelphia, even those are less than significant. Starting his third round on Saturday, he was fourth, so we can likely wrap up any suspicions of a sustained Masters hangover.

A few loose approaches aside, his putting and driving are predominantly in good nick, which bodes well for the US PGA Championships at Quail Hollow. Not that he needs a second invitation to attack a monstrously long North Carolina track where he has won four times previously.

Such has been McIlroy’s dominance at the 7,626-yard course, Jordan Spieth had a new name for it in conversation with the world No 2 earlier this week: Rory McIlroy Country Club.

With the sheer length he has from the tee and the relative lack of penalty for minor blips in driving accuracy, McIlroy’s status as favourite is justified, though wins for Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau last weekend in the on the PGA Tour and LIV respectively make for an intriguing convergence of in-form stars.

Of equal interest is how McIlroy reacts to having finally completed his masterpiece at Augusta. The theory goes that after completing the career set of majors and ending an 11-year wait for his fifth, he will now kick on towards six majors with a vengeance. The two-time US Open Curtis Strange has already this week raised the prospect of McIlroy taking all four in a calendar year.

Golf has never seen that feat before, but the McIlroy hype train has a habit of inspiring ludicrous predictions. His challenge, a week after turning 36, has been to recalibrate from Augusta and build on a season that has also included substantial Tour wins at Pebble Beach and the Players Championship.

McIlroy has said it himself, adding: ‘Look, obviously that (the Masters) at the forefront of everyone’s mind because of what it meant and how I did it and all that stuff. For me, it’s great that I was able to do it. It’s not that I’m leaving it in the rearview mirror, but I’ve got a lot of golf still left to play this year. I want to really try to focus on that.

‘We all have our own challenges, and if my challenge is to try to focus on the present and not think about a dream come true a few weeks ago, then that’s a pretty good challenge to have.’

A helpful element to that end has been resisting any temptation to reinsert himself into golf’s messy politics. He remains on the PGA Tour’s transaction committee, geared around those stalling, never-ending talks with the Saudis, but after being denied re-entry to their policy board last summer, there is no coincidence around improvements to his form.

As McIlroy said on Friday night: ‘I’m certainly not involved too much in the politics of everything. I think at this point, I don’t care. I want to play golf, and the reason I got into this game was to shoot scores and try to play the best golf possible and not really be concerned about how the Tour is run or the business of the Tour. I’m happy with where I’m at right now.’

The stability heading into this portion of the season is notable. Aside from this week in Philadelphia and a team event alongside Shane Lowry in New Orleans, McIlroy’s month since the Masters has been low key.

That included a trip with his wife and daughter to see the house they are building in Surrey and a visit to his parents in Northern Ireland, but the onus has been placed on striking while the golfing irons are hot. Compared to this time a year ago, when divorce proceedings were being planned, there seems to be less baggage attached to McIlroy than at any time in recent years.

Quail Hollow offers the potential to turn those circumstances into an all new level of hype for this latest stage in McIlroy’s career.