McIlroy v Woods Northern Irishman plays down rivalry with the 14-time major winner and plays up his return to form in Texas, writes Nick Rodger in Augusta

So much for rivalry. A shoot-out between Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods has been billed as the biggest showdown since that stooshie at the OK Corral. Amid the general frenzy whipped up by the possibility of the world's top two ranked golfers blasting away at each other down the closing stretch of a major championship, McIlroy seems to be keeping his gun in the holster.

"I don't see myself as a rival to Tiger or to anyone," said the 23-year-old Northern Irishman, amid snorts of disbelief from the assembled masses in the media centre. "Tiger has been on tour for, I don't know, 12 more years than me? So when you speak of rivals, you tend to put rivals together who have had similar success. He's got 77 PGA Tour wins, I've got six. He's got 14 majors, I've got two. If I saw myself as a rival to Tiger, I wouldn't really be doing him much justice."

The only thing McIlroy is concerned about this week is looking after No. 1. If he can do that, then he may just be the No. 1 here at Augusta. His toils and troubles have been well-documented this season, from the uneasy transition into his new Nike equipment to a sore tooth that was given as the reason for his controversial mid-round withdrawal at the Honda Classic. What's gone before can be left in the past, however.

"I've always said that the main golf season is from the start of April to the end of August," said McIlroy. "That's when I want to play my best golf."

He's certainly given himself a chance of doing that. Despite a spluttering start to the campaign, McIlroy, who has been fishing about for gears like the driver of an old jalopy, seems to have finally clanked into life and got himself motoring again.

He would have been teeing-up at Augusta tomorrow with the first win of his season under his belt had it not been for Martin Laird's inspired display in the Valero Texas Open last Sunday. A second-place finish, his best of 2013, was a timely tonic, though, and more than vindicated his decision to add the event to his schedule at the last minute, even though, for this amiable, obliging and in-demand young man, there was a sacrifice. He had been set to visit Haiti as part of a UNICEF humanitarian mission but phoned in personally to postpone the trip.

"Golf is sometimes a selfish sport and sometimes you have to do what's right for yourself," he said. In my position, people are going to want more of your time, but sometimes you have to say no."

On his Texan tune-up, he added: "It was almost perfect. I got what I wanted out of it in terms of playing more competitive golf. I felt like I had turned the corner in terms of my golf swing at Doral [during the WGC Cadillac Championship], so last week wasn't about the swing. It was about getting the scorecard in my hand and shooting the scores. A bonus was getting into contention.

"I've went through these patches before, when the game feels far away and them something clicks and all of a sudden it's back again. When I don't play my best, it's when I get into bad habits in my swing. Whenever my swing is where I want it to be, that's when I produce results."

The ultimate result would be victory here at the Masters. "Would anything less than a win be a disappointment this week?" he pondered. "Yes, it would be.

" Every time you come here to Augusta, you're wanting to win the green jacket and every time you don't do that, then it's another chance missed. The ultimate goal is getting one of those jackets."

Key to McIlroy's battleplan this week will be a new strategy off the tee. This will be his fifth Masters appearance and getting to grips with the nuances of the terrain has been very much a case of trial and error. Having imploded on the final day of the 2011 tournament, finding Rae's Creek as well as cabins that TV viewers never even knew existed, during an agonising 80, McIlroy has certainly had his trials. Now he's keen to mend the errors of his ways.

"I'm going to adopt a different strategy to previous years and try to hit it into the fat parts of the fairway. I'm confident with my iron play, so there's no point in taking on too much off the tee. There are generous fairways and if you hit it into those fat parts then you're always going to give yourself and chance of getting it close to the pin."

The memories of that anguish-laden collapse two years ago remain seared on the mind, but McIlroy is not one for reflecting on the past.

"All the demons are gone, " said the five-time European Tour winner, who memorably went on to win the US Open by eight shots just two months after that Masters meltdown. "They were gone as soon as I got off the 18th green.

"What's done is done and it doesn't matter. I have no ill memories of this place at all . . . I adore it."