Butch Harmon, the renowned American swing coach, believes Rory McIlroy now possesses the short-iron game necessary to clinch a Masters victory, having learned valuable lessons from last year.

The golfer from Northern Ireland sought Harmon's expertise for urgent assistance with his approach play ahead of last season's first Major. Despite finishing tied 22nd and trailing 15 shots behind the winner and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Harmon is confident that McIlroy's performance this season - particularly his 9-iron shot in the playoff at The Players - indicates he has addressed the final flaw in his game.

"I think he has got a great chance this year," the Sky Sports golf analyst told Mirror Sport. "You saw how well he has played in the last few weeks. He has already won twice.

"What I worked on with him was shots from 150 yards in. He was hitting the ball left all the time. I wanted him to follow through and take the ball out of the air a little bit. An example of all the work we did was when he won in the playoff at Jacksonville. That shot he hit on the 17th hole in the playoff into the wind, a flighted down 9-iron. It was just perfect.

"That is really what I worked on with him. The rest of his game was fine. He has gone on and done the work himself and he has done a good job. He is the only one to have won twice this year. Him and SS (Scheffler) are going to be the co–favourites because Scheffler played well last week.

"You look at how they are playing going into this thing. Rory has already won twice, he had a good final round at Houston where he had a run at it. I think he is in good stead."

Yet Harmon, now 81, revealed that he witnessed firsthand the pressure McIlroy felt leading up to last year's Masters. "He wants it so bad, he just has to relax when he gets there," the American advised.

"It got to him last year - you could see it in his demeanour and how quickly he walked. Even in his warm-up, things weren't as calmed down.

"He needs to relax, take it easy, don't push, don't get all wrapped up in the hoopla, he is going to have to do a lot of media. If he can just relax and play his game, he is going to have a hell of a chance."