Rory McIlroy turned 22 last week, a clue perhaps to understanding his collapse at the Masters and his reaction to it. He celebrated his birthday by missing the cut at Quail Hollow in defence of only his second pro title. America then has not been kind to him this spring. But don't worry. He isn't.

McIlroy is sitting out golf's richest tournament, the Players Championship at Sawgrass, this week. The decision was made at the end of last year. It might be a good thing. McIlroy is playing the long game. What happened at Augusta did not mark an end but a beginning.

His youthful insouciance presents a difficulty for those who like to see emotional bleeding in defeat. Bouts of self flagellation are seen as evidence of hurting and a deep desire to improve. Defeat in the Masters did hurt McIlroy. But it did not crush his spirit. He was asked a lot about his Masters experience on his return to the States in North Carolina.

'It was a great chance to win a first major, but it's only golf at the end of the day. No one died. Very happy with my life, very happy with what's going on, very happy with my game. A bad day on the golf course is better than a good day in the office.'

The relative inexperience that he believes cost him at Augusta protects against the kind of dread that took hold of Kenny Perry two years ago when Angel Cabrera and not he sank the winning put in the Masters play-off. Perry was that year's flash in the pan. He knew the chances were that he would never be passing that way again. McIlroy is mercifully too young for angst rooted in what might have been.

'I don't think I was ready,' McIlroy said. 'That was the most important thing. You know, I displayed a few weaknesses in my game that I need to work on. But I think you've got to take the positives. For 63 holes I led the tournament. It was just a bad back nine, a very bad back nine that sort of took the tournament away from me, I suppose. But what can you do? There are three more majors this year and hopefully dozens more that I'll play in my career.'

McIlroy has been working on his putting with former PGA pro Dave Stockton, a development that recognises one of the weaknesses referenced above. McIroy missed a bucket load inside ten feet and a few more inside five as he progressed through the Augusta week. The issue appeared to be in the reading of the putts rather than the execution. He hit them well enough but did not seem to see the line.

There are a few on tour who would take McIlroy's game as it stands. He is a majestic sight on the tee. Indeed his opening drive at Augusta on the final day was a peach. His approach was none too shabby either, pitching to the left on landing. A yard shorter and he would have been putting for a birdie instead of chipping from the side of the green.

These are the kind of small margins that can eat into a tender mind not yet hardened by major tournament play. McIlroy skipped off to Malaysia immediately after the Masters and led again for the best part of three rounds before being reeled in by the equally precocious Matteo Manassero, four years his junior. McIlroy was intercepted in Kuala Lumpur by a champion who knew how it felt to blow a lead on the last day at Augusta. Greg Norman's advice will not endear him to media moguls. Thankfully McIlroy is resisting.

'I had a good chat with Greg Norman. He sort of just said to me, from now on, don't read golf magazines, don't pick up papers, don't watch the Golf Channel. But it's hard.'