has been accused of pretending to have an elbow injury to throw fans and journalists 'off the scent' of his good form heading into the . The Northern Irishman is among the favourites to win the tournament and finally land his fifth major after an 11-year wait.

Speaking after coming tied fifth at the Houston Open last week, McIlroy revealed that he was nursing a minor elbow problem and that he would spend this week ironing out some weaknesses with coach Michael Bannon. Despite his positive form, which included his victory at the Players Championship, the 35-year-old insists he is not entirely happy with his game heading into the Masters.

However, golf pundit Dan Rapaport, who played a key role in the Netflix series Full Swing, believes McIlroy is exaggerating an issue. Some reports suggest the world No. 2 has even flown to Augusta already to prepare for the tournament - not at home like he has claimed.

Speaking on his podcast, Rapaport said: "He went out of his way to kinda say that he wasn't feeling his best. I'm not buying it, I'm not buying any part of it. I'm not buying the elbow. I'm not buying the coach coming in and working on some stuff. I think he's just trying to throw the scent off a little bit."

A fellow pundit who goes by the name Skratch added: "It's like when you log on in the morning and your boss asks how you're doing. You say, 'I'm good, I've got a little headache, though, so I might have to log off a little early today'."

Rapaport nodded and continued: "You're just planting the seed. I think it's all systems go. I saw [golf journalist] Rick Gehman tweet this is the second-best form he's been in in his career heading into Augusta. Maybe he's just trying to fly under the radar a little bit."

It comes after McIlroy had said: "I'll get some treatment on that [elbow] and make sure that that's okay going into Augusta. I've got my coach, Michael Bannon, coming in tomorrow, so we'll be working at home and making sure [the] game feels good going into The Masters.

"I still feel like I've got some stuff to work on. I still don't think like my game is absolutely 100 per cent under the control I would want, but it's nice to have a week to work on some things."

There is no evidence that McIlroy has lied about an injury but he looks set to be fit to play at this year's Masters, which begins next Thursday. He has not won a major since his PGA Championship triumph in 2014 and winning the Masters would complete a career slam of succeeding at all four of golf's major tournaments.