Building on his successRory McIlroy roared out of the gate at the British Open last summer, then struggled mightily on the second day. After his scorching start at the Masters Thursday, he says he's far more ready to handle his heady situation. Rory McIlroy, with caddie J.P. Fitzgerald, says he's learned from his second-round disappointment at St. Andrews last summer. (Getty Images) By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM Site Producer AUGUSTA, Ga. -- It wasn’t quite the opening round at St. Andrews nine months ago, but Rory McIlroy’s 65 on Thursday was good enough to give him the lead at the Masters. Now he hopes he doesn’t do what he did the next day of that British Open. McIlroy shot 80 in the second round there to fall out of contention before rallying to finish third. “Obviously at the time I was very disappointed to come off the course and shoot 80 after shooting 63. But looking back on it, it was a very valuable lesson in my development as a golfer,” McIlroy said Thursday. “I’ll be thinking about it and I’ll be thinking about how I can do things better [Friday] than I did that day in St. Andrews.” It would have been hard for McIlroy to do anything much better on Thursday, when he had seven birdies and no bogeys. He appeared headed for an eighth birdie but missed his birdie putt on the 18th. McIlroy also had similar opportunities on Nos. 8 and 10, but he wasn’t exactly disappointed with his day. “I would take 65 all day long,” McIlroy said. “Could have been lower, but I also could have got a bad break here or there and I might not have been able to get to the green on 13 from the pine straw or something.” With all the preparation McIlroy put into this year’s Masters, however, it’s easy to see why he didn’t have any bad breaks. He got here a week ago and played 27 holes last Friday. Prior to that, McIlroy spent 10 days in West Palm Beach, Fla., where he worked with his coach, Michael Bannon, and played with Dustin Johnson, Camilo Villegas and others. RELATED CONTENT --See McIlroy's scorecard “I wanted to take three weeks off because I wanted to be prepared and fresh and ready to go for this week,” said McIlroy, who is playing in just his ninth career major. “Some people like to get into a run of events and play well, but I feel like the first week back out for me is my best week.” It certainly showed on Thursday. McIlroy is comfortable turning the ball right to left, which is a shot you need at Augusta National, and he says he’s learned where to miss in this, his third Masters. He’s also learned from his experiences at St. Andrews and Whistling Straits. “It’s possible that I can go out and shoot another 65, but I know that it’s also very likely that I’m not going to do that,” McIlroy said. “So if I do find myself in a bit of trouble, I’m going to have to stick in there, grind it out, and that’s something that I feel as if I learned to do at St. Andrews. Even though I didn’t do it on that Friday, I feel like shooting a score like that, you should really never make that mistake again.”