Even in defeat Rory McIlroy can feel good about himself Tied for 15th: Rory McIlroy finishes his round in Sydney on Sunday. If you had walked through the gates at The Australian for the first time late on Sunday afternoon you would be forgiven for lapsing into a sense of deja vu. Rory McIlroy was smiling - again - after sinking his final putt of the Australian Open. It was arguably wider than anything seen at Royal Sydney 12 months earlier. A quick peep at the leaderboard told a different tale. The world No.1 wasn't really on the leaderboard - at least not near its upper reaches. You had to slide down into black numbers and a tie for 15th - the same amount of shots back from runaway winner Jordan Spieth - to even find the Northern Irishman. Did it really matter? "I'm not going to let this week ruin what has been the best year," grinned McIlroy, whose Stonehaven Cup defence fizzled out with a one-over 72 on the final day to finish two over for the tournament. And why would it? It's not often you lose and feel better about yourself than if you won. McIlroy's state of mind sneaking out of Australia this year might even be better than last year, when a 72nd-hole Houdini act gave him his only win of 2013. This year? McIlroy has a British Open, a US PGA and the world's No.1 ranking in his back pocket after a season-ending visit to Australia - with a career grand slam beckoning at the US Masters in April. "Right now I'm just looking forward to putting the clubs away for a little bit and I'm sure over the Christmas and New Year period I'll reflect on what a great season it's been," the 25-year-old said. I'll set some more goals for next year and I'll work hard and try to achieve those. Another hit-and-run mission on the Australian Open part of those goals? "Depends all on the schedule and where it's going to be," said McIlroy, playing the proverbial straight bat. I love playing in Australia and always enjoy my time here. I've had a wonderful time this year and hopefully it works again. Hopefully more than his decision on the ninth hole on Saturday, which triggered a triple bogey implosion. No regrets, fired back McIlroy. Even when the tournament all but moved out of reach in the minds of most - except for the man who made an art of turning the impossible into possible with a little white ball. "I was only six back going into [Sunday] and if I could get off to a fast start and turn that into three or four under and have a good back nine I might have some sort of chance," he said. I felt like up until the ninth hole [on Friday] I was playing pretty well and I was right in the tournament. I obviously let it get away from me a little bit and the conditions were a little bit tougher this year. The course is obviously tougher this year in terms of scoring. It just wasn't meant to be. Neither for the man he was supposed to duel with on Sunday, Adam Scott, who was left frustrated with an even-par final round to finish nine shots back from Spieth. While McIlroy goes home, Scott heads to the Australian PGA on the Gold Coast in a fortnight. The defending champion will be hoping the sense of deja vu on Sunday afternoon is for real this time.