"I feel that's the best way for me to prepare. It's competitive. You're trying to shoot a score. The pins aren't in the spots where they are going to be at the weekend, but at the same time you still have to get the ball in the hole and hole putts that you feel a little bit of pressure on."
Asked about the condition of the course, McIlroy, who finished fourth last year, added: "It's not very different at all from what we saw last year.
"I feel like the way the course is now is probably the way the course played last year because it was soft and a little slow. I'm sure they are trying to get it faster and firmer as the week goes on."
Five outsiders for the Masters 2016
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Wood, who now owes McIlroy dinner, was faced with the daunting task of also trying to make a hole-in-one to keep the match alive, but joked: "I suppose it wasn't quite game over but when the crowd are chanting 'Rory, Rory' and you've got to try and hit a seven iron to that flag there's not much chance.
"I've never quite heard a noise like it - it was pretty mad. It was great fun. It was a cool moment."
