ORLANDO, Fla. -- Rory McIlroy birdied two of his last three holes at the Bay Hill Club on Sunday, shooting 70 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational -- his last round before heading to the Masters in two weeks with considerable history at stake.
McIlroy, the top-ranked player in the world, left plenty of room for improvement after a three-tournament PGA Tour stretch that saw him post just a single top-10 while shooting just one of 10 rounds in the 60s.
He will head to Augusta National seeking his third straight major championship title and the career Grand Slam -- victories in all four majors.
"There was progress made this week considering what I was working on last week after Doral," he said after finishing tied for 11th, eight strokes back of winner Matt Every. "A few areas of the game that I need to tidy up going in there, but saw enough good signs, positive signs to be optimistic in the next couple of weeks and I know what I need to work on.
"I guess that wasn't the main goal, obviously the main goal was to come here and try to win. Couldn't do that. At least I got a couple of things out of this week which is good."
Pressed on what needs work, McIlroy said: "Wedge play needs quite a bit of work. Not taking advantage of getting it up close to the green. If I'm getting ready for just Augusta and I'm thinking about it, there is quite a few wedges for me there and going to concentrate a lot on from 120 yards in the next couple of weeks and try to get that as sharp as I possibly can."
When McIlroy won the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool last summer, it gave him three of the four majors and put him in position to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to complete a career Grand Slam.
Three weeks later, he won the PGA Championship, giving him four career majors and two in a row. Only Hogan (1953) and Woods (who won four straight over 2000-01) have captured three straight majors in the modern era.
After winning the Dubai Desert Classic on Feb. 1, McIlroy, 25, missed the cut at the Honda Classic, tied for ninth at the WGC-Cadillac Championship and tied for 11th here.
It should be noted that last summer, McIlroy had missed the cut at the Irish Open, then tied for 14th at the Scottish Open -- where he had a second-round 78 -- before going on his three-tournament winning streak, including two majors.
"I sort of like that because if I had played really well the last few weeks, I'd be wondering how do I keep this going," he said. "It's almost like it's nice to be able to build yourself up. I don't feel I'm right there. I feel like I'm gradually building myself up so it's actually not a bad position to be in."
