Rory McIlroy is determined to finish 2016 on a high with a successful defence of his title in the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai – the final event of the European Tour’s season-long Race to Dubai.
The Northern Irishman has an impressive record at Jumeriah Golf Estates having played in all seven previous editions of the tournament, winning twice and finishing outside the top ten only once.
McIlroy also retains an outside hope of winning a third consecutive Race to Dubai crown, but the four-time Major Champion faces stiff competition from the three players currently ahead of him: Open Champion and Race to Dubai leader, Henrik Stenson, second placed Danny Willett, Masters Champion and Alex Noren, who won for the fourth time in as many months at last week’s Nedbank Golf Challenge.
Swede Noren is hoping to extend his stunning run of form after moving into contention for the European Tour’s Number One spot and also into the world’s top ten for the first time.
Meanwhile, McIlroy today also welcome the inclusion of his national Open, the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation, in the European Tour’s newly unveiled Rolex Series.
Player Quotes
Rory McIlroy: “It’s always good to be back here. It doesn’t seem like, whatever it is, six or seven years ago, we played our first one here back in 2009, and I was battling Lee Westwood for the title and The Race to Dubai. I have great memories from this place. Obviously last year had a great battle with Andy Sullivan and was able to come out on top, so, yeah, looking forward to the week.
“I feel like my game is in pretty good shape. I’ve played this golf course pretty well in the past, and hopefully can play it just as well, if not better this week. It would be a good way to finish the year on a high and get a victory and lift the trophy and hopefully make the turkey taste a bit better at Christmas.
“Mathematically I can win the Race to Dubai, but it’s not going to happen. I wouldn’t hold my breath. I think the three guys that are ahead of me are playing very good golf, especially the two Swedes, Henrik and Alex. Alex with what he’s done over the past few weeks; Henrik has had a fantastic year, and so has Danny, obviously. So I don’t expect those guys to play badly this week so I’m just concentrating on trying to win the golf tournament and if I can do that, I’ll be very happy.
“The Rolex Series announcement is fantastic news. I think to be able to bring some of the bigger and best tournaments on The European Tour schedule and put them into this Rolex Series where obviously you’re playing for an increased prize fund, is fantastic. It’s a great thing for The European Tour and our membership. And to have the opportunity to bring more of the best players together more often, I think is going to be a real boost for The European Tour.
“Keith Pelley has been a huge part of that, and I think him getting involved and giving The European Tour a bit of different energy has definitely helped. Rolex have stepped up big time, and they have been a great partner for golf for many, many years. But this sort of brings them to another level. So everyone in golf should be grateful for them for what they have done. I’m happy to be a part of it. I’m excited obviously that The Irish Open is a part of it. It’s a massive thing for The European Tour.”
Danny Willett: “It’s been a very turbulent year; we’ve had the ultimate of highs and a few real lows the last few months, and you know, here we are. We’ve got four rounds of golf left in what’s been a pretty long season, and slightly different situation to last year, but still need to win the golf tournament to win The Race to Dubai. I’m 300,000 points behind Henrik, so looking at it, I think if we win a golf tournament, then, you know, nobody can of take it away from us.
“It could be an exciting week. I have a little bit more confidence after the last couple rounds last week. It was nice to kind of finally get a few nice rounds under par and get some good feelings back there, and now we come to a golf course that doesn’t necessarily suit me 100 per cent as much as it does the other guys, but if we can get it in play off the tee then it definitely suits good mid-iron play which is one of our strengths, and good putting.”
Alex Noren: “I’ve never really been into looking at numbers like that. I usually don’t know what the purse is, what the numbers are. But obviously here it’s easy to know the purses. I think that kind of takes a lot of energy and at the end of the day if somebody has the week of their lives, it’s quite tough for me to beat that.
“The biggest question between me and my coach is how we’re going to hit that certain shot, kind of what did go well last week and what didn’t go well, and keep that going. It’s more about the preparations than the numbers.”
