Rory McIlroy has been speaking after his historic fourth win at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
Rory McIlroy has won a record-breaking fourth Hero Dubai Desert Classic - the event where he had his first DP World Tour win 15 years ago.
After clinching his third Rolex Series title, the Northern Irishman faced the press to discuss legacy, family and famous friends.
On Dubai
The arc of my career and Dubai in general have tracked each other pretty consistently along the way. I remember my first Desert Classic in 2006 as an amateur, staying what seemed like out in the desert at this point and it's probably like only ten minutes away now, it's so built up. But just to think 18 years ago and what it meant to come here and play in this event, to be sitting here having won it four times and all the great experiences that I've had in Dubai and the friends that I've met and everything along the way. It's always been a place where I come back to and reminisce about my career because I really feel like it's where everything started. So it's amazing to sit here. The first Desert Classic, I took a media credential and I walked inside the ropes to follow Tiger and Ernie and Thomas Björn, I think, Just to think about even the arc of that: Thomas Björn is my Ryder Cup Captain, I ended up buying Ernie Els' house, I've become really good friends with Tiger Woods. It's just amazing to think back on the last 18 years and where I find myself. I certainly don't take anything for granted and I always appreciate the opportunity to be able to do what I do. It feels amazing to sit here and have won that big coffee pot four times.
On legacy
I think it's the only way to be able to compare yourself to the people that you grew up idolising. My hero was Tiger Woods, I wanted to do what Tiger did. I'll probably not have the career that he's had but I still look at the trophies that I've won and my name is on those same trophies that his is on. I don't know a better way of quantifying success in the game as putting your name on the trophies that the people before you have put their names on. So whether it be this trophy or Major Championship trophies or whatever it is. I sat up here on Wednesday and talked about global golf and something like the Australian Open. I'm looking at the Stonehaven Cup and my name is on there with Peter Thomson and all the legends of the game. I think it's a very cool thing. Michael Thorbjornsen has just won the second time as an amateur here. Hopefully in 15, 20 years' time, he's looking back and looking at the trophies that my name is on. I just think that the generation span is so long in golf. I've played in the U.S. Open with Tom Watson but I've also played in a U.S. Open with Rasmus Højgaard, who is 60 years younger than Tom Watson. I think just the generations and length of time that you can be a pro and you can have success in golf, I think it's amazing to think about the journey and to think about the players that you've played with.
On family and team
I think I have enough people around me to keep me accountable. I think that's really, really important. Whether that's Michael Bannon coming out and us working on some stuff, whether that's like the odd text from (caddie) Harry (Diamond) during the course of an off-week, doing some work with Brad Faxon at home in Florida, doing work with my trainer, Roe, having conversations with Bob Rotella. I think I have enough of a great team around me and enough people around me to keep me accountable. I feel like if I'm not trying my best, I'm letting them down as well. If they are putting 100 per cent of their effort into it then I feel like I should at least give them the respect to put a 100 per cent of my effort in as well. This is (mum Rosie's) first time in Dubai in nine years, I think. I think they have had a great time. They also love coming to Dubai and love spending time here. We've got three of those pictures on the 18th green. They weren't here for the win last year but it's pretty cool. I mean, 2009 to now, and the 15 years that have passed and everything that's happened, it's still incredibly cool to be able to do those things with them.
On getting a video from Brad Faxon
He sent it across without a prompt from me. He just said, 'look, I hate bothering you when you're at a tournament but I just saw a couple of things'. He sent me a couple videos, explained what he saw and it's not anything new. It's actually the exact same thought with my putting that I had at the 2022 TOUR Championship. I ended up going on to win that as well. It was a familiar thought and a familiar feel. I definitely felt like I putted a bit better on the weekend.
On his final round
If the scores on the weekend had been flipped and I shot 70, 63, I'd probably be like, yeah, that was amazing. But the 70 today, I did what I needed to do. I felt like I played a very controlled round of golf. The two birdies on eight and nine were huge to sort of give me that cushion going into the back nine. The golf course definitely played a little trickier at the weekend. It was hard to get the ball very close because of how firm the greens were. I thought even after I finished on Friday, I thought if I shot two 67s over the weekend, I would have a decent chance to win and if that had have been the case, I would have tied. I wasn't too far away with the prediction and I went one better than that and ended up winning the tournament. I'm not thinking from ten behind that I'm going to win this tournament. It's more, if I can play two really good round of golf and shoot a couple of 67s that may give me a chance on Sunday. So it's not really thinking about the win but it's more thinking about, 'OK what's the winning score going to be, is it attainable to shoot those two scores?'. And I thought that it was. After the bogey on 13, I just wanted to steady the ship a little bit. I knew 14, 15, 16 were tough holes, so I thought if I could just get through them and par them, I played 14 and 15 quite conservatively. I hit a tee shot left on 16. I knew that I would have a couple of chances on the last two holes. If I needed to make a birdie, then those were the chances but thankfully I didn't need to in the end. It was one of those days where I gave myself the cushion and then even when I dropped a shot, it was just so hard to make ground up because of the way the course was playing.
On the Masters Tournament
Augusta is still a long way away in golfing terms. A lot can change in 2½ months. But it's always nice to get a win. It's always nice to feel like you're playing well going into it. I've always said that I'll take execution over preparation every single time because you just have to execute the golf shots, especially there. I think last year at Augusta, I learnt a lot about myself. I've told this story numerous times now about the first green on Friday, Brooks (Koepka) was on the eighth green and I saw the big leaderboard and I was already ten behind at that point. I was ten behind after two days this week and ended up winning the golf tournament. I feel like I've taken that learning already and put it into practice a little bit already. That's a huge thing for me. I've still got some big events to come but I think from now until that first or second week in April, at least a part of my mind is going to be towards getting myself absolutely ready for there.
