McIlroy dismisses Scott rivalry

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Rory McIlroy
McIlroy is the hot favourite with the bookies to defend his title ahead of Scott - the man he stole the Stonehaven Cup from with a birdie on the 72nd hole in 2013.
While Scott has made no secret of his desire to avenge last year's loss, the Northern Irishman says it would be a mistake to focus solely on the Queenslander at the Australian Golf Club this week.
"I'm not sure there's any sort of rivalry, it's hard to have a rivalry with someone like Scottie, he's such a nice guy," McIlroy said.
"... There's a lot of good players, a lot of good Australians are playing and (American young-gun) Jordan Spieth's obviously here.
"I'm playing with Matt Jones tomorrow and this is basically his home golf course, so he's going to have a good shot at it.
"But it's a strong field. It's definitely not a two horse race ... Adam and I are coming off the back of a couple of good finishes last week but at the same time there's another 120, 130, 140 players in the field and they'll all feel like they have a good chance to do well this week."
McIlroy says last year's victory at Royal Sydney Golf Club was the springboard for his 2014 season that included two major victories – at the British Open and US PGA.
While he is focused on his title defence this week, the 25-year-old admits he already thinks about next April's US Masters 'every day'.
"It's the next, I guess the next big career goal of mine, it would complete the career grand slam," he said.
"It's going to be a great position to be in in a few months' time driving down Magnolia Lane, having a chance to win my third Major in a row and the chance to complete the career grand slam at 25; so I'm going to enjoy it.
"I know there's going to be a lot of hype and there's going to be a lot of talk about it but I think you just have to embrace that and I'm just going to go and enjoy the week as best I can and make sure that I'm prepared for that week next year."
He got his first glimpse of the Australian Golf Course over nine holes on Tuesday and played his only full round at the layout at Wednesday's pro-am.
The four-time major winner says the Jack Nicklaus design presents few surprises off the tee but concedes the undulating greens will provide a stern test.
"I think it's pretty much right in front of you," McIlroy said. 
"It's a little more generous off the tee than Royal Sydney was last year but it's very tricky around the greens, there's a lot of runoff.
 "It's typical Jack Nicklaus design with a lot of humps and bumps in the greens but it's going to be a good test and I'm looking forward to it."
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