Given the level of comfort he has at the Majlis course and the state of his game, Rory McIlroy has fired a warning at his rivals in the Dubai Desert Classic – he will be extremely disappointed if he is not holding aloft the trophy on Sunday evening.
The world No. 2 is the defending champion, and is undefeated in Dubai for more than a year. In 2015, he won the Desert Classic with a stupendous display of 22-under par and then completed a Dubai double by winning the DP Word Tour Championship 10 months later.
McIlroy is 81-under par for his last six tournaments, which includes his first professional victory at the same course in 2009.
The 26-year-old Northern Irishman has started his season well, finishing tied third at Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
Rory McIlroy is 107 under par for his last 24 rounds in Dubai. pic.twitter.com/lSJNZfoPLG
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) February 3, 2016
“The Emirates Golf Club seems to bring out my best golf. And I’ve got great memories here, winning my first tournament, making my first cut as a pro. So it’s always great to be back. If I was leaving here on Sunday night and didn’t win, I’d be disappointed.
“The game’s in good shape. There are a couple of little things that I took from Abu Dhabi and worked on last week. So hopefully, you’ll see my game just a little bit sharper. I want to try and win again here, win for the third time to join Ernie (Els) as the only player to have won this event three times.
“I have just been trying to work a little bit on my putting. I felt like I was sort of cutting the ball a little bit with my left-to-right putts and almost doing the opposite with my right-to-left, so just trying to get a little more consistent with that.”
The course is in great condition, and there are certain changes – mainly firmer fairways – made in the set-up from last year, but nothing that is worrying McIlroy.
“I think it’s going to make a big difference off the tee. Not only are the fairways firmer, they have cut them towards the greens, so the balls are going to roll out. It’s okay on straight holes, but there are a lot of doglegs on this golf course where you can run through the fairways, and the rough is pretty thick. In previous years, the fairways were soft, so it adds a different dimension for sure,” added McIlroy.
“I think the course looks very well. It presents probably a little bit better. But it’s a golf course that I feel so comfortable on. It’s not going to make much of a difference, but it might just change the way I play a few holes. Instead of taking the driver and trying to carry a few of the corners, just a 3-wood or try to play a little more conservatively.”
And as has become a recurring theme in McIlroy’s pressers, there was the mandatory Masters question with the Augusta countdown at 10 weeks. McIlroy said he has learnt to embrace the situation.
“Of course, you always want to be part of the discussion, even if sometimes it gets to you or fills your head with thoughts that you don’t maybe want in your head at certain points,” said McIlroy. “But it’s always better to be a part of the conversation than not.”
