A man on fire: Rory McIlroy hoping to ride momentum at WGC-Bridgestone Invitational

The Northern Irishman claimed his third major title at Hoylake on July 20 and McIlroy said he has "a lot more left", which he hopes will lead to a dominant month or so, starting at the Bridgestone Invitational in Ohio.

When McIlroy won the PGA Championship in 2012, he went on to claim two more titles in the space of a month - the Deutsche Bank Championship and BMW Championship - to finish second in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Play-offs behind Brandt Snedeker.

It is that kind of run that the 25-year-old is looking for again, as he prepares for his first event since winning The Open.

"I just want to think ahead and go forward and try to win as many tournaments and as many majors as I can, because I feel like there"s a lot more left in me," McIlroy said on Monday.

"After my second Major at Kiawah I kicked on for another six months and played really well. I want be to be the guy who goes on and wins majors regularly and wins tournaments."

McIlroy will, unsurprisingly, be one of the favourites at Firestone Country Club starting on Thursday but the man with the biggest reputation of victory in Akron will be former world number one Tiger Woods, who has won the Bridgestone Invitational eight times, including last year.

Woods has dropped to 10th in the world following his 69th-placed finish at Hoylake earlier in July.

The 38-year-old veteran won by seven strokes at Firestone last year but his struggles with a back problem in 2014 mean he is far from his best heading into this week's joint-sanctioned PGA and European Tour event.

Woods has not won a tournament this year, meaning he is well off the pace in terms of qualifying for the FedEx Cup Play-offs and the Ryder Cup.

World number one Adam Scott is another with fond memories of Akron having won there in 2011, while the Australian is still looking for his second victory of 2014 after claiming the Crowne Plaza Invitational in May.

This week's WGC event will feature a high-quality field with the top 15 players in the world set to compete.