Rory McIlroy stepped up his preparation for the Masters as he finished tied for fifth at the Texas Children’s Houston Open on Sunday. The Northern Irish golfer, on his tournament debut, came into the final round eight shots behind leader Min Woo Lee and carded six birdies and an impressive eagle on the final day to move to within five of the Australian at the end. Lee shot a final round 67 to hold off Gary Woodland and Scottie Scheffler by a single shot to pocket $1.71m of the overall $9.5m purse up for grabs. McIlroy was one of four golfers to finish on -15 at Memorial Park Golf Course with Alejandro Tosti, Taylor Pendrith and Wyndham Clark all tied on the leaderboard. As a result McIlroy took home a prize money cheque for $389,500 on his final outing ahead of the Masters. The first 'major' of the year will get underway at AugustaNational in 11 days time with McIlroy now returning home to Florida for a week of practice with his swing coach, Michael Bannon, reported to be flying in. As a result the Holywood man will not compete in the upcoming Valero Texas Open as he looks for a better showing in the Masters after finishing tied for 22nd last year. McIlroy finished runner-up in 2022 but also failed to make the cut in the years either side. He comes into Augusta with two wins already in the bank following victories at Pebble Beach and TPC Sawgrass, where he secured the Players Championship and pocketed a cool $4.5m. Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox