The last few months have been nothing short of turbulent for Rory McIlroy, on and off the golf course.

A rib injury forced him to miss a number of events in the opening half of 2017, and after missing the cut at the US Open in June, McIlroy was accused of looking 'bored' on the golf course by former major winner Steve Elkington.

It was scathing criticism from the Australian, who also questioned McIlroy's desire to achieve more in the sport.

The Northern Irishman responded by rubbishing these comments, and then vowed to take time off social media to concentrate on his game.

But, without the distractions of social media, the former world number one has failed to perform on the golf course, having missed the cut in two of the three events he has played since the US Open just over a month ago.

However, despite this poor form, McIlroy is upbeat going into the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale this week.

After hearing he was valued as high as 20/1 by some bookmakers to lift the Claret Jug this week, the four-time Major winner responded: "Well it's a good time to back me, I think, at 20/1.

"Look, if I was a betting company and I saw my form over the past few weeks, you would say, yeah, that's probably a fair enough price. But, again, all it takes is one week for those odds to go back to, I don't know, 7/1 or 8/1 at Quail Hollow? So as I say, it's a good week to back me."

McIlroy admitted he has been far from his best in recent weeks, but revealed that his performances in practice is giving him confidence going into this week's event at Royal Birkdale.

He said: "It hasn't quite happened for me over the past couple of weeks, but as I keep saying, it doesn't feel that far away. And because I haven't played that much, the only thing I can really do is take some sort of confidence from what I'm seeing in practice, and sometimes that doesn't quite translate to what happens on the course.

"And that's sort of been the case for the last few months. But obviously it's been hard to get any sort of momentum with an injury and not being able to practice as much as you'd like.

"But I'm in good spirits. I feel like it's all coming together and I'm just waiting for that round or that moment or that week where it sort of clicks and I'll be off and running. I've had little periods like this before in my career, and I've been able to bounce back from them."

The Northern Irishman also addressed questions about his desire to achieve more in the sport, following on from comments made by Steve Elkington last month.

McIlroy said: "I want to win this week, I don't need to win.

"A second Open Championship isn't going to change my life, but I want to win. I'm still as ambitious now as I was starting off my career, if not more so now because I know what I've achieved and I know what I can achieve, so it only makes you want to do that even more.

"But having that success, you only want to do that more. And you want to emulate that and you want to do it again and again and again. So I definitely haven't lost the hunger that I've always had."

So, McIlroy has revealed his desire to achieve more in the sport is unwavering, and he is confident he can silence his critics at this week's Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

But, having struggled on the golf course in the past few months, can Rory McIlroy add to his four Major titles and win his second Claret Jug this week?