Jack Nicklaus advises Rory McIlroy to be patient ahead of Masters

Rory McIlroy cruised to precocious success throughout his career, but The Masters is the lone major that still eludes him on his quest for a career Grand Slam. 

The world's number-one golfer is a victory away from becoming the sixth man to pull off the vaunted feat at just 25 years old. McIlroy turns 26 on May 4. 

Ahead of the prestigious tournament, McIlroy received advice from a man who truly has done it all: six-time Masters champion Jack Nicklaus. 

"I talked to Rory last week and I said: 'You've got a big week coming up, just be patient. You've got a lot of years so just be patient with what you're doing this year and you'll do fine'," Nicklaus revealed to ESPN.com

"That's what I tried to do myself, just be patient and play the golf course. If you look at this course, you've got half a dozen shots where you can go to the airline and get a ticket to go home.

"But if you play those half-a-dozen shots well, and be as aggressive as you want around the rest, you can do pretty well, and sometimes you can win."

McIlroy captured both the PGA Championship and The Open Championship in 2014 and has his eyes firmly set on glory at the iconic Augusta National Golf Club. Ahead of the tournament, Nicklaus advised on the importance of ball placement, advocating for McIlroy to attack the center of the greens. 

"If you go look at this golf course, if you're patient with it, and you're looking at the centre of the green, you can never have a putt very far from the centre of the green.

"I always played the golf course from the centre of the green and then just inched my way towards wherever the pin placement was. That way you're always staying on the safe side of the hole, you're not going to give yourself a short-sided third shot. Then you find, by the end of the day, you'll usually do pretty well," Nicklaus said. 

With one of the greatest players of all-time lending his support, McIlroy may don the elusive green jacket for the first time in his still-young career by weekend's end.