Rory McIlroy has returned to the Emirates Australian Open, the tournament that kick started his rise to World Number 1.

Last year McIlroy arrived in Sydney winless, he left with his name engraved on the Stonehaven Cup.

"Sydney’s one of my favourite cities in the world and we had a great time, obviously I played really well and was able to get the win," said McIlroy.

"It was my only win of last year but it was a very important one to me, especially in the fashion that I did it." 

In good humour, McIlroy joked about putting an end to Adam Scott’s PGA Tour of Australasia Triple Crown quest.

"I think I annoyed quite a few Australians, preventing Adam from doing the triple," said McIlroy.

"But I’ve great memories of coming down here.  I was excited to come back and defend the title."

Since his Australian Open win McIlroy has had a season that most can only dream of, he has won The Open Championship, WGC – Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship and topped the Official World Golf Rankings.

"It set me up a lot, it really did.  As I said, I took a lot of confidence from it," added McIlroy of his win in Sydney.

"It’s been a great season and hopefully this is just the start of seasons like this and I can start to replicate them going forward."

McIlroy will try to defend his title this week but he comes up against a highly motivated Adam Scott determined to win his National Open.

"If you’re playing with Adam, he does make you play your best golf because he’s such a great player as well," added McIlroy. 

"He rarely misses a shot, he’s so solid and the only way that you can really live with that is just by doing the same thing, by hitting great drives, by hitting good iron shots and giving yourself loads of birdie opportunities like he does."

"But it’s a strong field. It’s definitely not a two horse race."