Sir Nick Faldo says Rory McIlroy is playing better than anyone on the planet, but that is only part of the enigma he must crack as he vies to end a decade of major championship woes at The Masters next week.

World No. 2 McIlroy has enjoyed a stellar start to the season, winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Players to send a resounding reminder of his class as he bids to finally complete the career grand slam.

Rory McIlroy hopes to end his Masters woes next week (Image: Getty Images)

McIlroy has not won a major since the 2014 PGA Championship, despite remaining among the game’s elite in the years since. And Augusta National has been a hall of pain for the 35-year-old, who infamously squandered a four-shot lead in the final round in 2011.

Although that bitter moment sparked four major wins over the next three years, Augusta National has delivered him little but disappointment since. McIlroy has missed the cut in two of his past four attempts, and he was an also-ran last year, finishing in a share of 22nd place.

All signs point to McIlroy being primed for his best run at Masters glory in several years. His putting – which so harshly cost him the U.S. Open title in 2024 – has been reliable and he has worked out the flaws in his wedge game that held him back in recent times.

But six-time major champion Faldo, who won the green jacket three times, believes McIlroy’s mentality after so much major championship agony is what his fate rests on. Faldo says McIlroy has the unenviable task of “deleting” a decade of history from his mind.

McIlroy suffered Masters heartbreak in 2011 and has tasted little joy at Augusta National since ( Image: Tim Dominick/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

“He’s looking very good,” Faldo told the ‘Sky Sports Golf Podcast.’ “Physically, he’s got it. Technically, he’s got it. Mentally – where is he mentally? We’ve now gone 10 years on [from his last major win].

“He’s got the battle of trying to delete 10 years of this gap and saying to himself ‘Look, I’m actually the best player in the world right now,’ and he is. If he can just get out of his own way.

“It’s easier said than done to delete and we know how fragile our game is. When he missed that two-footer on the 16th at Pinehurst, it’s a ridiculous game and it shatters you. You think, ‘If I can’t hole it from two feet…’ and you make a mistake and you see how his mind was scrambling down the next couple of holes and, in my opinion, he made a poor decision up 18.

“One minute, you’re bulletproof, playing great, and nobody can beat you, and then you do something like that and start thinking, ‘Well, if I can’t do that, what the heck [can I do?]’ You can see where your brain starts to go.”

McIlroy will start the tournament – which tees off on April 10 – as second favorite behind world No. 1 and reigning champion Scottie Scheffler. But not only does McIlroy have the task of overcoming a star-studded field to win the green jacket, but he must also wrestle his own scars and the weight of the history books stacked against him

“The history is not great,” Faldo continued. “I think only two players, Tiger [Woods] and [Ben} Crenshaw, have won with like 11 years between two majors in about the past 50 years, so forget that. He’s got to rewrite some of those things because he’s 35 and playing great.

McIlroy won The Players last month ( Image: Getty)

“Can he just go to Augusta and absolutely clear all of the pictures out from the past? That is way easier said than done, but he could do it. I’ve got a feeling he might.

“It’s his trust in the short irons. That’s his only… you’re only as good as your weakness, and his weakness is when he loses his trust with his short irons and then you take a bogey when you’ve got a wedge in your hand and it’s demoralizing.

“He’s in that weird place where he’s got to deal with the mental battle. He knows he’s got it physically and technically, but can he go and play as if he’s an 18-year-old again?”