ORLANDO, Fla. -- There are a few different ways to view Rory McIlroy's performance at this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational.
On the one hand, he posted a bevy of red numbers and closed with a 7-under 65 that matched the low score of the tournament to finish tied for 27th.
On the other, he carded a cringe-worthy six double-bogeys, including four during the weekend rounds.
So, how would the world's No. 2-ranked player assess his week?
"Up and down," he said afterward. "It's been the story of the week and sort of been the story of my year, as well. I've played some great golf and not great golf. I've made a lot of mistakes.
"It's just something I need to work on going into next week at the Match Play, but the sort of golf I'm playing, that tends to do well in match play. Lot of birdies, lot of mistakes, but I need to figure it out going into Augusta."
McIlroy is keenly aware that Sunday marked just 18 days before the year's first major championship, where he will not only be seeking his first green jacket, but will try to become the sixth player in history to claim the career grand slam.
"It would be great to progress to the weekend [at next week's Match Play event] and get some good matches under my belt and go have my last competitive start before Augusta be a momentum builder and confidence builder," he admitted. "I have a week off to prepare and get ready."
As for erasing those big numbers from his scorecard, McIlroy knows that's something he'll need to eradicate if he wants to contend at the Masters and beyond.
To his credit, he also admitted that he's struggling with the mental side of the game.
"I know it's nothing to do with my game, really. It's nothing to do with me technically; it's more mental," he said. "I'm beating myself up over mistakes that I'm making on the course and then I'm not letting myself get over it, so that it sort of lingers there for the next few holes.
"I might make another mistake and all of a sudden, like yesterday, I was 2-under par after eight holes and I shoot 3-over par and 5-over the last 11. I need to stop doing stuff like that, but today was a great place to start."