Rory McIlroy says he would have done himself a disservice if he played in the designated RBC Heritage, but insisted his decision was worth it as he opened up on his Masters that 'sucked'.
McIlroy, 33, took a break from the game for the sake of his mental health after another year of disappointment at Augusta National.
The Northern Irishman is returning to PGA Tour action this week at the Wells Fargo Championship.
Related: McIlroy makes another putter change
He has briefly explained why he did so in comments to Sky Sports.
But he elaborated further on Tuesday at a private event, per the Miami Herald.
Of his Masters, McIlroy said:
"It sucked. I shouldn't be thinking about if I'm going to be having a good week or a bad week. I should only be thinking about that first tee shot on Thursday. That's getting ahead of myself and feeling really good about my game but having those thoughts of, jeez, I'm going to have the best week I've ever had at Augusta isn't the right mindset going into it. You need to be thinking about staying in the present. I feel like at Augusta I didn't do a good job of that because of how well I was playing. I was almost too – not overconfident – but maybe got ahead of myself."
McIlroy's decision to skip the RBC Heritage cost him millions of dollars in player impact program bonus money.
The four-time major champion said he had a private conversation with Jay Monahan about his reasoning.
He said:
"I knew the consequences that could come with missing one of those. It was an easy decision. It was worth that for me to get some other things in place. I had my reasons to not play Hilton Head and I've expressed those to Jay. Whether he thinks that's enough to warrant – again I understood the consequences of that decision before I did it. So whatever happens, happens."
McIlroy added:
"My mind wouldn't have been there. It was more important for me to be home. I would've been doing myself a disservice and I would've been doing the people around me a disservice if I had gone to play."
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McIlroy has taken centre stage in the battle for supremacy in men's professional golf.
Along with Tiger Woods, it is not unreasonable to suggest the pair have essentially re-shaped the PGA Tour.
McIlroy said he had lost sight of the fact there's more to life than the golf world.
He said:
"I've always thought I had a good handle on the perspective of where golf fits within my life and trying to find purpose outside of golf in some way. I think over the last 12 months I lost sight of that. I lost sight of the fact that, you know, there's more to life than the golf world and this little silly squabble that's going on between tours and all sorts of stuff. I think I just gained some perspective. Once I disconnected, I could see things a little clearer and where everything fits within my life. It was a good reset."
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