Masters notes: Rory McIlroy says this could be his year

By now, people expected Rory McIlroy to have won the Masters. At least once.

McIlroy is among those people. He’s 0 for 7 and needs to win at Augusta National to become the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam.

“I feel like I’ve got everything I need to become a Masters champion,” he said Tuesday. “But every year that passes that I don’t, it will become increasingly more difficult. So there’s no time like the present to get it done.”

McIlroy shot himself out of last year’s tournament with a glacial start. He was three over par after 27 holes. He played the final 45 holes in 15 under, but it was far too little to catch Jordan Spieth.

When a reporter asked about the cliche that the Masters starts on the back nine on Sunday, McIlroy replied, “I’d say it starts a lot sooner than that.”

Mickelson likes his chances

It is so un-Phil Mickelson to not be tinkering with his game heading into a major. He insists that’s the case for this week’s Masters.

A three-time champion at Augusta National, the last title coming in 2010, Mickelson has done everything but win this season on the PGA Tour. He has three top-five finishes and leads the PGA Tour with a 69.17 scoring average.

He said Tuesday he enters the Masters comfortable with every facet of his game.

“We’re here on a golf course that has suited me well in the past, and for the first time I really feel like coming into this tournament I’m not trying to find anything or search for anything,” Mickelson said. “I feel like my game is coming along. I feel like the game is starting to be easy again.

Augusta’s forgivingly wide fairways have no doubt contributed to Mickelson’s success — 11 top-fives in 23 starts. His driving accuracy statistics are slightly better this year, though his 58.6% success rate still ranks only 128th on tour.

It’s obvious Mickelson still has the game to win here. Last year, he lost by four shots to Jordan Spieth while nearly achieving something that’s never been done here — shooting four rounds in the 60s. He scored 68-67-69 in the last three rounds after opening with a 70.

With his 46th birthday coming in June, Mickelson is nearly the age Jack Nicklaus was when he became the oldest Masters winner in 1986.

“I don’t feel old at all. I feel great,” said Mickelson, whose only significant physical ailment has been his ongoing treatment for psoriatic arthritis. “I guess maybe you hang around these young guys as much as I have, you just feel young.”

Mickelson needles Johnson

Mickelson practiced in a foursome Tuesday that included Dustin Johnson and U.S. Amateur champion Bryson DeChambeau. Mickelson and DeChambeau are both math geeks and were talking about physics on the Augusta greens.

Said Mickelson: “[DeChambeau] was using some pretty scientific terms, and Dustin kind of shook his head and said, ‘If I hang around you guys much longer, I’ll never break 100.’”

And again

Asked for his best green jacket stories, Mickelson said he uses the Masters prize to tweak his friends.

“For me it’s just a great way to give the other guys grief, a little jab here or there,” he said. “I always like to rough up Dustin. He’s a great target.

“We were walking down [No. 1], and I just said, ‘So, what are your plans tonight?’ Might have been a little too subtle.”

The annual champions dinner was Tuesday night.