McIlroy mellow after deciding to sidestep par-3 warm-up

Rory McIlroy tees off on the second hole on Monday during a practice round for the Masters (Picture: Charlie Riedel/AP).

The sad news that Jose Maria Olazabal would not be able to compete this year due to illness brought home the fact that the Spaniard’s second victory at Augusta National in 1999 remains the last by a European, a stark contrast to the time when his compatriot Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam enjoyed unrivalled success.

McIlroy’s first attempt to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in winning all four major titles ended in noble failure last year, the 26-year-old finishing fourth with a 12-under-par total that has only been bettered four times since 2000.

Opening rounds of 71 left McIlroy 12 shots behind the record pace set by Jordan Spieth, meaning that scores of 68 and 66 on the weekend succeeded only in cutting his deficit in half.

As part of an effort to get off to a faster start this week, the Northern Irishman will not contest the traditional par-3 contest tomorrow, a light-hearted event which no player has won and then gone on to win the tournament proper four days later.

“It’s a bit of a distraction and the year I had my best chance at Augusta, 2011, I didn’t play the par-3 contest,” said McIlroy. “I already feel a little more mellow and a lot more chilled compared to the all the hype around me a year ago.”

McIlroy is the only member of the world’s top five not to have won a tournament in 2016, while former Masters champions Adam Scott and Charl Schwartzel have joined Spieth, Jason Day, Bubba Watson and Rickie Fowler in the winner’s circle this season.

All of which points to the trend for the cream to rise to the top in major championships to continue, with the days of shock winners like Todd Hamilton, Ben Curtis, Steve Jones, Shaun Micheel, Rich Beem and YE Yang appearing to be a thing of the past.

Since Darren Clarke and Keegan Bradley won the last two majors of 2011 when ranked 111th and 108th in the world respectively, the lowest ranked winner of any major has been Ernie Els, who was 40th when he won the 2012 Open at Lytham.

Yorkshire Boys were in ruthless mood as they defeated their Derbyshire counterparts 15-3 at Tankersley Park.

They lost just two points in the 12 singles matches after securing a 5-1 lead in the morning foursomes.