WASHINGTON (AFP) — Rory McIlroy is pleased with his recovery from a back injury and excited to play the Masters in three weeks as defending champion after last year’s emotional Augusta National triumph.

The 36-year-old from Northern Ireland captured his fifth major title by winning last year’s Masters to complete a career Grand Slam.

“This is going to be the first time I drive down Magnolia Lane (as champion), and it’s all going to be about enjoying my week and the perks that come along with being a Masters champion,” McIlroy said on Wednesday in a conference call.

Those include a champion’s parking spot, a place in the champions locker room, and hosting the champions dinner two days before the event tees off on 9 April.

“I know I get to go back to the Masters for the rest of my life,” McIlroy said. “

That’s quite a freeing feeling.”

After a third-place showing at Dubai in January and a share of second last month at the PGA Tour Genesis Invitational, McIlroy raised concerns by pulling out of the Arnold Palmer Invitational two weeks ago at Bay Hill with a back injury.

World No. 2 McIlroy, however, says those issues have been resolved as he makes final preparations to defend the green jacket.

“Prep has run pretty well,” McIlroy said.

“Had that little back issue at Bay Hill which threw a spanner in the works, but I’ve recovered from that pretty quickly.”

“I’m really pleased with how my body responded to that little setback.”

After a share of 46th defending his title at The Players Championship, McIlroy will be off until he tees off at Augusta.

“I’m really excited to get to the week of the Masters and defend,” McIlroy said.

“I know defending is a pretty rare feat, and I would like to do that for sure.”

Only Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo have captured the Masters in consecutive years, with Woods the most recent in 2001-2002.

McIlroy revealed his menu for the 7 April Masters Champions Dinner on Wednesday, stacking the lineup with personal favorites and some Georgia delights.

Appetizers will include bacon-wrapped dates with goat cheese (after his mother’s recipe), rock shrimp tempura, Georgia peach and ricotta flatbread, and grilled elk sliders.

“In the buildup to the Masters last year, I was eating a lot of elk,” McIlroy said.

His first course is a yellowfin tuna carpaccio after his favorite New York restaurant’s offering.

“Every time we go to that restaurant, that’s the one thing I have to have,” McIlroy said.

Wagyu filet mignon and seared salmon were his main course picks with Irish champ, Brussels sprouts, carrots, and onion rings from Vidalia, Georgia, and sticky toffee pudding for dessert.

“Then my favorite part of the menu is you get access to the wonderful wine cellar at Augusta National,” McIlroy said.

In addition to champagne, McIlroy will have a 2022 Domaine Leflaive Batard Montrachet.

“It’s the first-ever white wine that I actually liked,” he said.

“To be able to serve that is something that’s sort of important to me.”

There’s also a 1990 Chateau Lafite Rothschild — “That’s the wine that I drank the night that I won the Masters” — and a 1989 Chateau D’Yquem dessert wine that he called “liquid gold.”