ABU DHABI HSBC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

January 23, 2022

Rory McIlroy

Yas Links

Quick Quotes

Q. Thanks for taking the time to speak to us after a tough finish. Thoughts on the day?

RORY McILROY: Honestly just happy enough I got to play an extra two days. I had to make a birdie at the last on Friday night to be here and almost made most of the weekend. Played well yesterday. Played really well today through 13 and then a couple of loose shots coming in that cost me but it was good to see where the game's at. It was good to get an extra couple of days golf going to Dubai next week. Obviously wasn't the finish I wanted today but big picture-wise good to get another couple of days to play 36 holes, get a card in the hand and sort of assess where everything is and sort of know what to work on going into next week.

Q. You've obviously got great aspirations going into yet another season on Tour. What are the takeaways from this week you're really pleased with?

RORY McILROY: I thought for the most part I struck the ball well. Coming into the new season, you have new equipment and there's always a couple little kinks to work out here and there.

I put a 3-iron in the bag a couple weeks ago and that cost me three shots on the first day and my 3-wood caught -- I'm not blaming it completely on the equipment but I knew there was a bit of a left in it, and it sort of showed its head on 14 today and on 18. Working that a little bit. They weren't too great swings, as well, so need to work a little bit on that.

But apart from that, I thought the driver was good, irons were pretty good for the most part. Hopefully get to Dubai with some favorable conditions next week. Don't feel like I've hit a full iron shot the last couple of days, all knock-down. Maybe some kinder weather would be nice going into next week.