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DP WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP, DUBAI

November 17, 2015

Rory McIlroy

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Rory, welcome. Welcome back to Dubai.

RORY McILROY: Thank you.

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Another busy week for you, started off this morning launching the tickets for The Irish Open alongside Colm McLoughlin and George Horan from Dubai Duty Free. Start us off with what you're trying to achieve with that and we'll go into this week.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, obviously very excited to be involved with the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open again. Going to The K Club next year. We just launched ticket sales today. A percentage of every ticket sold will go to The Rory Foundation which is fantastic. So hopefully people will get out there and buy their tickets early and stock them up.

Hopefully it's going to be another great year. It's the 10th anniversary from The Ryder Cup in '06, so it's nice to be going back to The K Club and I feel like The Irish Open this year was a huge success for the tournament. Personally it wasn't quite what I wanted from myself, but I thought the tournament went fantastically well and I'm sure it will just go from strength-to-strength.

With having Dubai Duty Free as main sponsors, and hopefully a little bit of my input can go a long way, as well. So excited for what's to come with the Irish Open. Obviously the increased prize fund, as well.

So a lot of great things happening with the Irish Open, and excited to be involved and excited to see where we go from here.

MICHAEL GIBBONS: And an exciting week for you this week, try to win The Race to Dubai.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, that as well. Yeah, it's always great to come back to Dubai. A place where I've got a lot of great memories. You know, going back six years, winning my first professional title to Dubai Desert Classic, winning a couple of Race to Dubai titles and winning the Dubai Desert Classic again this year, it's always been a great place for me. So it would be nice to do the Dubai double this year and pick up The Race to Dubai title to go with it.

I didn't quite think I'd be in this position, and coming into this event, especially after taking the week off last week, but a few of the guys didn't capitalise on that in China thankfully and I find myself in a position where -- it's totally in my hands. If I go out and win the tournament, I win the overall thing no matter what anybody else does, and that's a nice position to be in.

Obviously that's the main objective this week, and I feel like I'm playing well enough to do that.

Q. You just alluded to it: You didn't think you would be on top of The Race to Dubai standings when you arrived here this week. Was that your thinking as you came in?
RORY McILROY: When I arrived here, I still was top but on Sunday night, I didn't think I would still be there. I got in late Friday night, so the tournament was still going on in Shanghai.

But yeah, I felt a few guys had a chance last week to overtake me. That didn't quite materialise, thankfully. So that gives me, you know, it gives me freedom of mind knowing that I come in here this week, and if I win, no matter what anyone else does, it's in my own hands I guess.

Q. There are obviously permutations on who wins The Race to Dubai depending what happens this week. Danny was just in a minute ago and he said his perfect scenario would be the back nine basically you and him playing match play on the Sunday. Is that something you would enjoy or would you rather, six shots ahead, two holes to play?
RORY McILROY: I mean, I think you can answer that one yourself (laughter).

Look, I just want to win the tournament. I don't care who finishes second, who finishes third. If I am the champion at the end of the week, it means that I win The Race to Dubai and that's all I'm really thinking about.

Q. Apart from recovering from the disaster caused by the club sandwich in Shanghai, what have you been doing since Friday when you've come over here? How much have you practiced and how are you feeling about your game, especially given the week that you had in Shanghai?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, just been trying to put a bit of weight on to be honest. Nice position to be in. But yeah, so I got in Friday, early Saturday morning. Practised Sunday.

So I didn't really hit a ball until then. And then yesterday I practised and had a few other commitments, and then played the Pro-Am there today. Obviously doing a little bit more practice tomorrow. But my game feels in good shape, it really does.

I was excited, it's got better each and every week. I felt like it was good in Turkey and I felt like going into China, I could see improvements each and every day, and I didn't obviously -- things didn't work out so well for me there.

But I feel like I still finished well. It was a good week. It could have been better. I hit the ball great from tee-to-green. On the greens was a different story, and energy levels weren't quite there.

But I felt like it was still a positive week in some ways. And now getting to Dubai and feeling at full strength and feeling 100 per cent healthy, I feel like I've got a great chance on a golf course that I've played very well at before.

Q. Where generally would The European Tour Order of Merit feature in your list of goals, targets this year and is it any different this year given the way it was disrupted in the middle with injury and the way things have changed a wee bit?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's always a goal of mine. At the start of the year, I want to be at the top of these lists at the end of the season, whether it's the Race to Dubai or whether it's the FedExCup. They are things that -- The Race to Dubai, I was going to say it reflects the way you've played through the entire season, and somehow that's true. I feel like I've gained most of my points in the first half of the season with my performances.

I've just sort of held onto that position a little bit. But it would be a great way -- I think there is more, coming into this week and not having wrapped it up like I had done the previous two times I've won, there is more of an intensity or more of a -- it would be a really great way to finish the season, and knowing that I haven't already got it wrapped up, it focuses the mind and I really want to play well this week.

Q. You say you're 100 per cent fit. So the ankle is now completely cleared up, has it?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, yeah. It's totally -- I hopped the fence with Gibbo there earlier. He can attest to that.

MICHAEL GIBBONS: I hopped the fence, as well. (Laughter).

RORY McILROY: No, it's totally fine. It's felt, I mean, when I came back toward the end of the summer and into the sort of autumn there, the right and left ankles weren't quite feeling the same yet but it was still good enough to do what I needed to do. Now they feel exactly the same, which is great.

Q. So when you start next season's schedule, playing two or three weeks in advance, if you needed to, you'll be able to, two or three weeks together, sorry.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, like physically, yes. I think three is -- I could play every week in a row if I wanted to physically, but mentally, I would just be at the end -- three weeks in a row of golf for me is as much as I can handle and then I need to take a week or two off.

Q. You have got great results over here on this golf course and you've never finished outside the top five except for once when you finished 11. So over the years when you started playing this golf course from 2009 to now, have you changed any of your course management plans for this golf course, and what do you think is there on this golf course that just plays into your hand?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think if anything, I've probably got even more aggressive on this golf course as time has went on because I've gotten to know the golf course better.

And I really think this golf course plays into the long hitters's hands. There's some carries that if you can carry the ball sort of 300 off the tee, you can really shorten some of the par 4s and it gives you a big advantage on the par 5s.

So if I hit a good drive on, say, the 12th hole, for example, where there's a carry of about 300 yards up on to the top plateau and you get a little bit extra run; whereas the guys that carry it -- even the long hitters, 280, 290, they pitch into that hill and they are going in with a 5- or a 6-iron and I'm going in with a 9-iron or a wedge.

So that over the course of a week, all those little advantages, they build up and they mean something.

Q. The FedExCup events or the final four are the mix of par 70s, 71s, and 72s and European Tour have always used a par 72 course. Which system do you prefer and why?
RORY McILROY: I prefer a par 72 because I feel like I play par 5s well and there's obviously four par 5s and four very good chances to make birdies.

So a par 72 is always preferred for me. It doesn't matter. I mean, I've won an all pars and I've won a U.S. Open on a par 71. The other three were par 72. But yeah, if I was to choose, a par 72 would be my preferred because just of the way I play the game and the advantage I might have over the rest of the field on par 5s.

Q. Is this the last event for the year?
RORY McILROY: Yes.

Q. So after this, you've got eight, nine weeks off?
RORY McILROY: Yes, eight weeks I think in between tournaments, nine weeks, yeah.

Q. Is that the longest, apart from football-related injuries, is that the longest you've had?
RORY McILROY: I think so. I think because Abu Dhabi next year is being pushed back a week, probably. It's always around then. The last couple of years, I've played -- I went down to Australia where I played in Tiger's tournament in December.

But yeah, I think it's probably the longest break I've had since 2009.

Q. And you really don't want that break to be ruined by not coming away with the spoils.
RORY McILROY: It would -- yeah, I'd love to be flying away from here on Monday morning with wrapping up The Race to Dubai. It would be a great way to finish the season. Be very disappointing if that wasn't the case.

Q. Danny was in here just a minute ago, and I don't want to put words into his mouth but he sounded a touch rankled, shall we say, that you were being allowed to compete in The Race to Dubai, despite not competing in the minimum mount of events. Do you have any sympathy, and would you feel the same if you were in his shoes?
RORY McILROY: No. If I can win more money in 12 events than someone can win in 23, I don't see any reason why -- I played half the events and won more money. I know obviously you play majors and you play World Golf Championships, but, you know, that's the decision that The European Tour came to and obviously it's great for me that I'm able to be here and compete this week.

But I think it's not about -- and I said this whenever I was having a chat with Keith Pelley in the summer. It's not about the bonus pool or it's not about -- it's just about being able to compete here and play and try to win The Race to Dubai again.

I'd gladly take the trophy and you know they can keep the money and do whatever they want with it. It's more about trying to win The Race to Dubai again.

MICHAEL GIBBONS: You keep the trophy; I keep the money.

RORY McILROY: Perfect. Merry Christmas.

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Thank you.

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