Rory McIlroy tipped to do well as Northern Irishman elects to play this week's Texas Children's Houston Open

The update comes after the Northern Irishman has tinkered with his schedule in recent years to give him the best opportunity of finally wearing the Green Jacket at Augusta National.

McIlroy last played in the Houston Open back in 2014 – the year in which he secured his recent two major titles – as he more often than not played in the Valero Texas Open which starts the week before the Masters.

Speaking to the Sky Sports Golf Podcast, Billy Horschel believes McIlroy’s game will make him a difficult opponent to beat as he makes his maiden appearance at Memorial Park Golf Course.

However, McIlroy will be joined by some stellar names in the field, including world number one Scottie Scheffler, Jason Day, Wyndham Clark and Rickie Fowler.

Horschel said: "It's a perfectly-designed golf course for Rory.

"When Rory was talking to me about it when we were talking schedules at the end of last year, early this year, and he mentioned playing Houston, I said to him, 'man, that course is right up your alley'.

"There's a distance bias there. There's a lot of holes that he can hit his nice going draw along. I would suspect Rory has a very good chance to win.

"I know that Scottie Scheffler's in the field but with the way that Rory has been playing this year, the way his game is at, it wouldn't shock me if he went on to win this week.

"I think it's going to be a great test. The greens are big, they've got some slope in them. Chipping around the greens and having to hit chips up to greens sort of gets you ready for Augusta a little bit.

"The field is a really good one but if Rory wins, then I'm not shocked by it at all."

The Holywood man needs a victory in the year’s first major championship at Augusta National to complete the career grand slam.

Following his victory in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February and the recent Players Championship, McIlroy has now won twice on the PGA Tour before the Masters for the first time in his career.

Asked if his best golf could be yet to come, McIlroy told Sky Sports after his Players Championship success: “Absolutely. I don’t think I should be out here if I didn’t believe my best golf was in front of me.

“I want to try keep improving and getting better and it’s the reason that, after 16 or 17 years out here, I’m still doing it.

“Watching Scottie (Scheffler) go two in a row last year was unbelievably impressive and I think the only multiple major champions and multiple Players champions are Jack (Nicklaus), Tiger (Woods), Scottie and myself – so it’s a pretty nice group to be a part of.

“I feel like I’m a better player now than I ever have been and it’s nice to see the fruits of my labour paying off.

“The younger guys coming out are getting better every single year and I need to keep working hard to hang with them. I’m doing a pretty good job of that.

“I feel like I’ve still got a few years left in the tank.”