ABU DHABI HSBC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

January 19, 2022

Rory McIlroy

Yas Links

Press Conference

BRIONY CARLYON: Delighted to welcome back Rory McIlroy to the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

Q. Familiar starting ground for you in the Middle East on a different golf course. What are your thoughts heading into this week?

RORY McILROY: I think every time you tee it up for the first time of the year there's renewed optimism and excitement and anticipation and even though this is going into my 15th or 16th year on Tour, it's no different. You're excited to get the season underway, you want to get off to a good start.

Historically coming off the break I had, started pretty well. I just want to try to continue that trend. I feel like I've done some good work over the past few weeks in Florida, and certainly don't -- I think, as well, what's nice is even we have that little bit of a winter break. I don't recall as rusty as I have done in previous years because I put the clubs away for maybe two weeks. But then was playing and practising leading up to here.

So yeah, again, I sort of just want to pick up where I left off at the end of last year. I felt like I turned a corner after The Ryder Cup and played some good golf in that stretch. I just want to try to keep doing what I'm doing with that and feel like I've got a couple of nice thoughts with the swing, try to get the scoring clubs as I can and go from there.

Q. That balance in the off-season between the clubs being in the closet, if you like, and range time, and it sounds like that was a deliberate ploy to perhaps shift that balance?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, a little bit. I stayed busy. I played the Bahamas at the start of December, and then I had a few other bits and pieces going on after that, and I played the member/member at The Grove in Jupiter where I'm a remember, and that was like 10th and 11 or 11th and 12th of December. And then I put the clubs away after that for until just after Christmas, whatever that was, a couple of weeks.

Then the Seminole parent/child was on the 30th of January so I thought I had to practise a couple days leading up to that so I didn't let my dad down. After that I continued on and practiced and played and just sort of kept my eye in.

Q. And you didn't let your dad down?

RORY McILROY: I did, but at least it wasn't from a lack of trying.

Q. We often talk to you about your goals for a year when we are in Abu Dhabi. Have you set them? Can you give us an idea of the nature of them?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, again, I used to sit down on the flight here and write down, like: I want to win five times, I want to win a major; I want to win The Race to Dubai; I want to win the FedExCup; I want to do this or that, and of course I want to do all those things. I'd love to win six times in a season. I've never done that before. I've won five.

And all those things are great goals and they are things to try to work towards. But I think the biggest thing for guys that at the level that we're at is I want to hit over 60 percent of my fairways. I want my proximity inside 150 yards to be a certain number. I want my strokes gained putting to be a certain number. I think having goals that are more objective and more that I'm in control of, so I can't control if I win five or six times a year. There's so many other variables in there.

But I can certainly control if I hit 60 percent of the fairways. I can control if my numbers, my strokes gained numbers, my stats are better than they were the year before. So it's about trying to set yourself goals that you can control, and that are objective and measurable, and I guess those are the sort of goals I've started to set myself the last few years.

Q. Of those stats, is there one that has priority over the others?

RORY McILROY: There's a few. I'd love to get my iron play back to a level that it was at maybe a few years ago. You know, gaining at least half a shot to a full shot on the field with approach play. I've done that before I feel like I can do that again.

And then as I said, I think fairways hit stats is always a big one for me. If I can hit the ball in the fairway 60 percent of the time with how far that I hit it, I'm going to create a lot of opportunities for myself, and the more opportunities you give yourself, you know, the putts will -- some weeks will fall, some weeks they won't but I think over the last few years I've certainly become a more consistent putter and I certainly hole what I feel is my fair share.

Q. Adding a few yards is not part of that goal anymore, is it?

RORY McILROY: No, I don't need to. Again, that goal of hitting more fairways, it evens maybe throttling back and hitting 3-wood a little more often or hitting clubs that are maybe not as aggressive off tees and just putting yourself in the fairway. Maybe just being a little bit more of a measured and a controlled golfer.

I'll certainly pick-and-choose my spots where I can take advantage of the driver and hit it, but the last player -- the best player of the last 30 years, Tiger, he picked and chose where he hit driver, and he played a very, very controlled game. It didn't work out too badly for him.

So I think, again, not saying that my game compares to his in any way, but there are certainly aspects of what he did so well in the past that I would obviously love to put into my game.

Q. Also talk about playing with your dad at Seminole, you played with your dad on this golf course in a tournament a few years ago. Yesterday you played with Pádraig and Shane. What do you think of the course in this tournament condition?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think the golf course is unbelievable shape. It's in great condition. The fairways are immaculate. The greens are perfect. Yeah, I mean, to start the year here in these condition is really, really nice.

Honestly I didn't remember it that well from -- I only played it once or twice before. I think -- I think that a lot of the rough on the surround has grown in a little more. Visually there's some holes that they are a little intimidating off the tee, just because you see there's a little bit of trouble here and there. But once you get up there, there's plenty of room to hit it.

And obviously it's a Kyle Phillips, so he designed Kingsbarns, like big, big, undulating greens. I didn't remember how big and how severe some of the greens were here. So especially when you're playing a tournament and having to try to find, okay, where are they going to putt four hole locations, there's plenty of options for them out there to do that.

Q. And I was going to ask you about the hole locations, when you go to a new golf course, how important does that become for players and?

RORY McILROY: I think it becomes more important nowadays that we don't have green books anymore. One of the things with the green books is it was very easy to see where it miss it on second shots. A lot of guys use the green books more for second shots than they did actually putting.

So that's a big change, especially coming to a golf course for the first time. I just have to putt a little more thought into it, a little more work into your practise rounds and just be a little bit more diligent about what you do.

Q. I think it's 15 years on Tour now. You've spoken about your statistical goals or ambitions for the year but how do you define success at this stage of your career?

RORY McILROY: A successful year? Yeah, I mean, a successful year comes down to I guess, yeah, achieving what you want to achieve. Again, I can't control, really, if I win -- you can control if you win golf tournaments obviously, but there are other variables that are out of your control.

I think it's playing well. It's playing consistently. It's trying to improve on certain aspects of your game that you want to improve on, and putting yourself in position to win. I think that's the thing; the more time you just put yourself in position, you play good enough golf to be around the lead on the back nine on a Sunday; that's when you really find out what you're made of and whether you can repeat the swing and hit the shots under pressure when you need to.

And I guess that's a successful year to me. If I get myself in that position a lot of times, and I feel comfortable and I feel like I can hit those shots under the pressure, I know that I'm doing the right things.

Q. What memories have you got of Seamus Power as an amateur from your amateur days and what have you made of what he's achieved over the last year?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, he's played great. Seamus has done it a very different way than a lot of us have done it in terms of going to college in the States and then basically staying over there and doing everything on the PGA TOUR.

But he's done fantastically well. He's played really well the last -- I mean, the last year, really, last six months, he's really excelled and he's edging towards the Top-50 in the world, I'm not sure, I think he is in the Top-50 this week which is an amazing achievement.

There's so many avenues or ways to do it, but for him to it on the toughest tour in the world and the deepest fields, he's done it the hard way, I guess, and he's done it really, really well. I'm happy for him. I remember being in the Irish under 15 panel with Seamus, I remember playing the -- I remember playing the Munster Under 15s with him, and it was at -- wasn't at West Waterford. It was like Gold Coast or something like that.

But yeah, I mean, I've known Seamus for going on 20 years at this point. So I'm happy for him, happy that he's playing so well and it will be great to see him play in some of those bigger events this year.

Q. Just from your standpoint, as we start the calendar year, how would you assess the health of European golf and what used to be called The European Tour?

RORY McILROY: Honestly, I don't think it's ever been in a healthier position. I think the alliance with the PGA TOUR is massive.

I think the young players that are coming through, you know, you think about the -- if you're thinking of the Tour, you think of the fact that the first American ever won The Race to Dubai year in Collin Morikawa and you have these young players coming through from either side of the pond that want to play over here and travel.

Look, I think the one disappointment for every European golf fan was The Ryder Cup last year. But I think it's never been healthier. The tournaments are getting bigger. Sponsorship dollars are coming in to support event. Players are wanting to come back and play. I think it's in a really good spot.

Q. Related to that, you mentioned The Ryder Cup, any thoughts on the captaincy going forward? Obviously Lee has pulled out. Any broad thoughts or individual thoughts on who you might like to see do that job?

RORY McILROY: No, I mean, I wouldn't want to name anyone because I wouldn't want influence it one way or another. There are a number of candidates and they would all do a wonderful job.

It's not just about the one individual. There's a lot that goes into it. It's the vice captains, I want to say the whole European Tour, but Ryder Cup Europe team. That's a lot that goes into it, and look, good captains lose sometimes, and that's just the way it is. Pádraig was a great captain last time, and I didn't play my part, and I'm sure the other players feel the same way.

Q. Do you want to do it one day?

RORY McILROY: I hope it's a long time -- a long way away, but ultimately, yeah, I'd love to have a shot at it. But yeah, I mean, we're hopefully talking two decades or more.

Q. On The Ryder Cup theme, in a sense there's no rush to appoint a captain because qualifying doesn't start till September. But this week is traditionally often seen the captain announced. Would you like to see it sorted or does it not matter until later in the year?

RORY McILROY: I don't think it matters. It's certainly not on the players radar at all. I don't think it matters, really. It's not as if we're going up and down the range talking to each other thinking about who the captain is going to be. We are all focussed on our own job of trying to play the best golf we can. I think it's more of a bigger deal to you guys than it is to us.

Q. Just on this week, obviously you have an amazing record on the other course without ever quite getting over the line. Do you have mixed feelings about coming to a different venue?

RORY McILROY: A little bit, yeah. Played really well at the other golf course for a long time. And yeah, maybe this is what's needed to end up winning this thing at the end, a change of golf course. But as I said, it always been a great place to start the year for me. I've always played pretty well and hopefully I can continue that trend this week.