McIlroy returns to Quail Hollow "more motivated than I’ve ever been"

Rory McIlroy returns to the site of his first PGA Tour win this week feeling more motivated than he's ever been after claiming back-to-back Masters titles.

The world number two burst on the scene at Quail Hollow 16 years ago when he held off Phil Mickelson to win the first of his 30 PGA Tour wins in what’s now the Truist Championship.

It will be McIlroy's first start since he claimed his sixth Major win at Augusta National more than three weeks ago.

But with the US PGA Championship coming up next week, he's eager to get back to business and chase what would be his fifth win at the Charlotte venue, where he is the top-ranked player in the field for the $20 million signature event in the absence of world number one Scottie Scheffler.

"It feels a lot different," McIlroy said when comparing his first Masters win to his second.

“Even winning felt different. I felt like winning the Grand Slam was going to be this life-changing thing, and in some ways it was.

"But in other ways, I had to remember like, no, I still have a lot of my career left, and I want to keep playing and keep competing.

“So this year, I think winning was validation for all the work that I've put in over the last few years to get myself back to this place where I'm winning Majors.

"I'm excited for the road ahead. I'm excited for this week, I'm excited for Aronimink next week, Shinnecock, Birkdale.

"I feel like, if anything, I'm more motivated after what happened at Augusta this year than I've ever been."

The Holywood star gave himself ten days off to decompress after his Masters win, but he's been working on his game too and put new irons and a new three-wood in the bag this week.

“It was nice to just get a little bit of downtime and chill," he said. "Did some fun stuff. Erica and I took a trip to New York, which was nice. Then did the State Dinner at the White House last Tuesday night, which was an amazing evening. So fit in some fun stuff.

“But I gave myself a good 10 days to enjoy myself and then thought I needed to get back on the range and start to practice and get ready for this stretch coming up."

Seamus Power, meanwhile, plays the PGA Tour's opposite field, $4m ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic at Dunes Golf and Beach Club as Jayden Schaper heads the field in the $2.75 million Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship at Real Club de Golf El Prat in Barcelona.

There are no Irishmen in action in Catalonia, but there are nine champing at the bit 35 miles northwest of Rome for the HotelPlanner Tour's first event for more than six weeks.

Max Kennedy, who is 12th in the Road to Mallorca race for 20 DP World Tour cards, is joined in the Italian Challenge Open at Golf Nazionale by Gary Hurley (ranked 31st), Liam Nolan (48th), Conor Purcell (55th), Mark Power (71st), John-Ross Galbraith, James Sugrue, Ronan Mullarney and Robert Moran.

Former Ryder Cup star Chris Wood is one of the favourites to win in Italy after winning back Hotel Planner Tour privileges by topping the MENA Tour's Order of Merit.

On the LPGA Tour, Leona Maguire returns to action for the $3.2 million Mizuho Americas Open at Mountain Ridge Country Club in New Jersey.

While world number one Nelly Korda takes a break after clinching her 18th LPGA win in Mexico on Sunday, Maguire faces stiff competition from seven of the world's top 10 in Jeeno Thitikul, Charley Hull, Hannah Green, Miyu Yamashita, Ruoning Yin, Lydia Ko and Lottie Woad.

In amateur golf, Stuart Grehan tees it up at Seapoint looking to become the first man since Keith Nolan in 1997 to win back-to-back Flogas Irish Men's Amateur Open titles and bolster his chances of winning another Walker Cup cap at Lahinch in September.

After finishing tied for tenth in the European Nations Championship in Sotogrande and sixth at last week's Lytham Trophy, he feels good about his chances at a course in his adopted home town of Termonfeckin.

“To come into this week, being at home, it'll have its own pressures, but I'm feeling good and just want to put the head down now from Thursday onwards," said the Tullamore native, who plays alongside Fota Island's John Doyle and Huddersfield's Dylan Shaw-Radford.

"We all want to play a home Walker Cup in Lahinch. I've done well there in the past, so it would be silly for me to say it doesn't come into the head, of course it does.

"I'm pretty happy with my start, but I still need to keep the head down and put in some good work now over the next three months or so."