STRAFFAN, Ireland – Rory McIlroy doesn’t bristle too often. There’s more of Jack Nicklaus than Tiger Woods in him on that front.

However, McIlroy bristled on the eve of the $4.5 million Irish Open at the suggestion that his game is somehow in crisis.

The World No. 3 won three times last year, but he hasn’t won so far this season. Indeed, Jason Day seems to have left McIlroy in Day’s slipstream, with seven victories in his last 17 starts, including last week’s Players Championship in which McIlroy placed 12th, eight strokes behind Day.

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Questions are being asked about McIlroy’s game. The former World No. 1 isn’t too concerned about his game, just how it’s being portrayed.

“I’m relaxed about it,” McIlroy said. “It frustrates me, the negative spin that’s being put on it. I know expectations for myself are higher than other players, but you look at my record this year with a third in Abu Dhabi, a fifth in Dubai, a third at Doral, fourth in the Match Play. My bad weeks are top 10s, basically.

“So it frustrates me that the narrative is, There’s something missing in Rory’s game or, What’s wrong with Rory? I don’t feel like there’s anything wrong. It’s very close. It’s not as far away as I feel some people think.

“I know that if I go out and play my best or close to my best, that I’m going to have a great chance to win this week, next week, basically all season, because I’m in a really good place with where my game is.

“I just need to string four good rounds together in a tournament, and I feel like from there I’ll be off and running. That could be the catapult and steppingstone to another great season.”

McIlroy began the year as World No. 3, behind then-No. 1 Jordan Spieth and Day in the Official World Golf Ranking. Day since has swapped places with Spieth and appears to be surging ahead of McIlroy.

Day was averaging 10.7619 points at the start of the year, with McIlroy just behind at 10.5326. Day has widened that gulf. The Australian averages 13.3768 points to McIlroy’s 8.8325.

McIlroy can close that gap with a good performance this week. However, recent form in this event suggests that might not happen.

McIlroy, 27, of Northern Ireland, arrives at The K Club, just west of Dublin, seeking to make the cut in the Irish Open for the first time in four years. He has a couple of added incentives to do well. His foundation is hosting the tournament, and he’s playing in front of his home crowd.

“The Irish Open always was, but has become, one of the most important weeks of the year for me for a couple of reasons,” McIlroy said. “We’re here trying to raise as much money as we possibly can for three local charities in the Dublin area. Also, it’s a tournament I’d love to win one day.”

McIlroy counts a seventh-place finish in 2007 as his best Irish Open performance. He also placed 10th in 2012.

“My performances in this event – obviously over the past three years but going beyond that – haven’t been what I would obviously want.

“I want to really change that this week with a good performance. I feel like my game is in good shape. I’m coming off a couple of decent weeks in the States where I felt like I played better than what the results suggested, so I’m looking forward to the week.

McIlroy is in his second year as tournament host. That roll hindered him at Royal County Down last year when he opened with an 80. A second-round 71 did not stop him from missing the cut. He had to hang around to present the trophy to Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen.

“I learned a lot from last year,” he said. “I think there were times where I spread myself a little bit too thin last year with a lot of commitments. We’ve tried to scale that back a little bit this year.

“Once the tournament starts, I really don’t have many other commitments. So I’m trying to really focus on the tournament when we get going tomorrow.”

McIlroy is listed by Irish bookmaker Paddy Power as a 7-2 favorite to win.

“I think anyone that plays professional golf, they dream of winning their home open,” McIlroy said. “You don’t get very many opportunities to do it, so it would be very special.”