The Northern Irishman has a round scheduled with his father, Gerry, and Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley as he takes an early look at the course where he will defend his Green Jacket in April.

“I’m going to go up there and play with the chairman next week actually,” said the world number two, whose previous return to Augusta was for some promotional work.

“It wasn’t even a round. I was doing some filming up there.

“It was cool to get up to the champions locker room and see my nameplate alongside the other two champions that I share a locker with. It was somewhat nostalgic.

“I wouldn’t say it was emotional but definitely there was nice memories; different feels the first time staying on site without having to need a member there.

“There’s a lot of perks you get with being a champion.

“I was out on the course and was hitting some shots. They’ve moved the plate (on the 17th) back 10 yards to make it 10 yards longer but apart from that the course is pretty much the same.”

But while next week’s trip will be relatively informal in its nature, this week’s second Signature Event of the season offers the chance to sharpen his competitive edge.

McIlroy finished five shots behind Collin Morikawa at last week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am after a level-par third round, which included a triple and double bogey, cost him a realistic chance of defending his title.

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The Riviera Country Club is a more forgiving course and the world number two is looking to take advantage.

“I’m just sort of working through that first little bit of the year where you’re trying to shake a little bit of rust off and you’re trying to find your footing a little bit and sort of where your game is,” added McIlroy, who played two events on the DP World Tour this year before his arrival in California.

“I learned quite a bit about my game last week, played well for a lot of it.

“Obviously made some big numbers which kept me from being right in contention on Sunday but I feel like there’s enough good in there to be encouraged going into this week.

“There’s more opportunities to make big numbers last week than there is this week. There’s not hazards, there’s not water.

“The fact that I’m hitting a lot of good shots and hitting it close and converting a lot of putts, that has to give me confidence for not just this week but going forward.”