Rory McIlroy has said that he must not get distracted by the fact that he is playing in the final group with defending champion Jordan Spieth in the third round of The Masters.

The Northern Irishman, who is trying to complete the career Grand Slam this weekend at Augusta, shot the joint-low round of the day with a one-under-par 71 as swirling winds and tough pin positions made for high scoring on Friday.

At one point early in the second round, McIlroy was eight behind runaway leader Spieth, but the latter steadily dropped shots after a hot start to drop back to four-under, just one ahead of McIlroy.

It makes for a mouthwatering final group later today, but McIlroy is focused only on playing his own game.

"It doesn't make a difference to me who it is up there," McIlroy told reporters. "I want to win this golf tournament and I want to finish on the lowest score possible, and whoever that is ahead of me at that point, I just want to finish one better than that.

"I'm really trying to block [the grand slam] out. It's another golf tournament I'm trying to win.

"I'm trying to beat guys on this leaderboard that I've beaten before, so I need to take confidence from that and know that I've been in this position before. Maybe not on this golf course, but I've been in this position before in big tournaments and been able to get the job done."

McIlroy has outscored Spieth eight times on the 12 occasions they have played together.