Rory McIlroy believes he is ready to win another Major Championship and is hopeful that a positive mental attitude can bring rewards at this week's US PGA Championship.
The Northern Irishman's last victory in one of golf's four biggest events came at this tournament in 2014, when he claimed a one-shot triumph over Phil Mickelson at Valhalla.
Since then McIlroy has eight top tens in 14 Majors, including a tie for second at the Open Championship last month, as well as two Race to Dubai titles and a FedEx Cup as he continues to sit at golf's top table.
This season has been one of frustration on a Sunday for McIlroy as he lost out after going out in the final group at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, Masters Tournament and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational alongside eventual winner Justin Thomas just last week.
The 29 year old has won on the US PGA Tour this season, however, and insists he is always finding the positives from his recent near-misses, believing Major number five may be just around the corner at Bellerive Country Club.
"It's certainly close," he said. "I mean, I've kept giving myself chances this year. I haven't closed out those tournaments as I would have liked but at least I'm putting myself in position and that's all I can do.
"I can just keep putting myself in position and learn from those experiences, good or bad, and try to use what I've learned and put it into practice the next time, I guess.
"So I've done well, I'm slowly getting back up the World Rankings. I started this year at 11th, I'm back up to 5th. I've done a lot of good things. The only thing I haven't done is win enough.
In golf you just have to be an eternal optimist. You have to make the most of everything you have to see the positives - Rory McIlroy
"I've given myself a lot of chances. I played in a lot of final groups and I haven't played well enough when it's counted. So that's something that I'm just trying to go through and try to figure out what I need to do to make that little step from contending and getting into final groups to lifting trophies.
"Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't but right now I would love to take my chance in a final group here on Sunday again.
"In golf you just have to be an eternal optimist. You have to make the most of everything you have to see the positives and just move on and forget about it and that's what I've tried to do this year.
"The times where I haven't won and I haven't played my best, I try to learn from it and I move on. There's no point in reflecting on it too much or dwelling on it.
"You just have to turn up to the next tournament and it's a fresh start. Even this week's a fresh start for me after what happened on Sunday. It's another chance to give myself a chance to win a golf tournament."
