Rory McIlroy admitted that he needs to be less emotionally involved in his game ahead of this week's WGC Bridgestone Invitational.

The world number three missed the cut at the Open Championship last week after reaching the half-way stage of the event with his score on 12-over.

The Ulsterman has struggled with his game this year and is yet to record a victory in 2013, but the 24-year-old hopes that this week's event in Akron can kick-start his season, just like it did last year.

"I was sitting up here this time last year not feeling as if my game was in great shape," McIlroy told a pre-tournament press conference.

"I'm sitting up here this year a lot more positive and that's a great sign.

"It's a course [ the Firestone Country Club] I feel I can do well on and if something similar can happen to last year when I was fifth, that would set up for the last major of the season and a great end of the year.

"It's been up and down [since the same time last year]. I've had some great weeks and wins and had some very average ones as well. It's like everything, you are going to have ups and downs.

"My highs have been incredibly high and my lows have been pretty low so it's about trying to make it more on an even keel."

Since his disastrous Open campaign, he spent some time playing golf with his friends in Northern Ireland, where he went seven-under over seven holes in one of those rounds.

"It's nice to just go out and play for the sake of playing, not because you have to," he added.

"It makes you realise why you play the game, why you started because you love the game.

"When you were younger, you would do anything you could to get out on the golf course. It's great to just play with friends you have grown up with, it brings you back and makes you realise why you play this game.

"I've always said it's easier to smile when you are making birdies, but the thing he said last year that I am trying to do again is that if someone is watching you from the outside, don't let them know whether you have made a birdie or a bogey," the two-time major-winner added.

"I've become a little too emotionally involved with my golf over the past few months and let it either get me excited or down where I should not get too high or too low."

Golf 365