PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – After a five-month break from competition and a legal squabble that has been settled, Rory McIlroy returns to the PGA Tour at this week’s Honda Classic with a clear mind and refreshed outlook.

McIlroy, 25, of Northern Ireland, opens the year with high expectations as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson appear to be on the downside of their outstanding careers. Meanwhile, McIlroy, the No. 1 player in the Official World Golf Ranking, has surged into the void of men’s professional golf. He earned more than $8.2 million last year, racking up consecutive victories in the Open Championship, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship. In the two months leading up to the Masters, where McIlroy will attempt to win his fifth major title and complete the career Grand Slam, he has created a new level of excitement in the game.

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“I really haven’t felt as settled since coming in here – 2011, 2012, I guess,” he said Wednesday during a news conference at PGA National Resort & Spa. Earlier this month, he settled a nasty and increasingly public dispute with his former management team. “It’s so nice just to be able to focus on golf and put all my time and effort into that.”

McIlroy understands his place in the game much better now than when, as a 22-year-old, he posted a breakthrough eight-stroke victory in the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md. After a five-victory 2012 season that included his second major championship, he struggled with the recognition and demands on his time.

With last year’s summer surge, McIlroy finds himself “in a great position.”

“I feel like I handle the position I’m in a lot better than I did a couple of years ago,” he said. “I’ve got more experience at it. I’ve spent well over a year of my career at World No. 1, so I’m pretty used to it by now.”

After a settlement in principal with Horizon Sports Management, his former management company, McIlroy returned to the U.S. He has spent the past three weeks practicing, paying special attention to his short game.

Now, McIlroy enters the Tour’s four-event Florida Swing – he expects to play next week at Doral and then the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando – that will lead him to Augusta National and the quest for his first green jacket.

McIlroy enters Honda as a 7-2 favorite among Las Vegas oddsmakers to win this week. Even those odds might be low as he exudes the confidence of the World No. 1.

“I guess the hardest thing is being motivated enough to stay in the position that you’re in, resetting goals all the time and keep trying to set the bar higher,” McIlory said. “I don’t feel any of the external pressure, really, but it’s the pressure that I put on myself to play to the best of my ability and motivating myself to go out and practice every day and work hard to try and get better.”