The Masters is inching ever nearer and you can smell the excitement in the air, because, well, it’s being wafted in by giant, industrial-sized excitement blowers.

Rory McIlroy’s thunderous triumph at Bay Hill on Sunday night had frenzied, boggle-eyed observers drooling like a pack of bloodhounds staring at a butcher’s shop window.

By all accounts, the level of expectation is now so fevered, some of the golf writers will have to travel to Augusta National in the company of a midwife.

It’s been an intriguing, busy old spell across the golfing board, so let’s attempt to shoehorn the various odds, sods, bits and bobs from the weekend into the confines of this slab of parchment.

RORY ROARS AND BLOWS AWAY THE BLUES

With the kind of finish that grandstands were invented for, McIlroy’s rampaging final day charge in the Arnold Palmer Invitational should have been accompanied by a bugle.

The thundering hooves of the cavalry has generated quite a din in 2018. Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey, Phil Mickelson and now McIlroy have all won this year on a variety of leaderboards that have been so heavily loaded, they should be kept in a munitions depot. The big guns are manoeuvring into position for an Augusta assault.

In this frantic, fickle, knee-jerk age of instant judgement and hysterical reaction, McIlroy’s slide down the world rankings recently caused considerable hand-wringing and teeth gnashing.

Just about the only person not getting into a fankle was McIlroy himself. “I kept telling everyone I was close,” he said. “Nobody would believe me but I knew it.”

With a swashbuckling display of power, poise and, at last, some profitable putting, McIlroy put together the complete performance.

When he is in full flow, the natural talent is a joy to behold and there are not many sights better in golf. On that kind of form, he is unstoppable. The doubters have been emphatically silenced … for now anyway.

ANOTHER CHAPTER IN THE TIGER TALE

Another week, another top-five finish for Tiger Woods. His flirtations with the upper echelons of the leaderboard may yet end up with the ultimate date.

Ahead of Bay Hill, two of the most talked about and maligned clubs in world golf – with the exception of this scribe’s wonky wedge - were McIlroy’s putter and Woods’ driver. In the aftermath of affairs at the weekend, one is now viewed as a valuable weapon in the armoury, the other is still seen as a significant liability.

Woods got to within a shot of the lead on the back nine of the final round but that dicey driver cost him again as he hooked a tee-shot out of bounds at the 16th.

Still, Woods has now posted 10 consecutive rounds of par or better in this increasingly captivating and encouraging comeback.

His next competitive round will be at Augusta and the hype will be as wild as some of his drives. Keeping a lid on expectation and maintaining a sense of perspective may require the assistance of the Georgia State Troopers.

GRANDE DAME PROSPERS BUT TIMES STILL TOUGH FOR FEMALE PROS

The LPGA Tour’s Founders Cup pays homage to the circuit’s past so it was perhaps fitting that Dame Laura Davies applied the kind of nostalgic touch that should have been filmed on one of Thomas Edison’s early contraptions.

The 54-year-old rolled back the years and had a variety of clocks tick-tocking backwards as she posted a share of second place, her best result on the LPGA Tour since 2007.

Her competitive instincts remain as sharp as ever. A new generation emerging, meanwhile, are just trying to keep the rust off.

Speaking to Scottish golfer Kelsey MacDonald at the weekend, it appears the troubled Ladies European Tour will still have many gaps in its schedule with MacDonald fearing she may just have one event between April and July.

Trying to forge a competitive edge with such limited outings is tough. Trying to simply earn a living is even harder. The good old days when Davies was in her pomp on the European scene feel a long time ago.

SCOTS PLAYING CATCH UP IN NEW WORLD ORDER

Have a quick scroll down the men’s world rankings – no, you’ll have to scroll further than that – and you’ll come to Russell Knox, the highest-placed Scot at 101st.

For the first time since the summer of 2010, the home of golf doesn’t have a male player in the top 100 of its global pecking order.

In this pursuit of fine margins and fluctuating fortunes, things can change in a heartbeat but the grim prospect of the Scots being absent from the showpiece occasions of majors and WGC events does little for the profile and exposure of the game here.