20 years ago, a 16-year-old Rory McIlroy appeared at the Dubai Desert Classic for the first time. In the two decades since, he’s gone on to achieve almost all of the lofty goals that 16 year old could’ve set for himself, and is now a five-time major champion and Career Grand Slam winner.
Ahead of the Dubai Invitational last week – McIlroy’s first competitive start of 2026 – Rory spoke of the challenge of battling complacency in the wake of arguably his finest accomplishment at Augusta National last year, and he expanded on that in his pre-tournament press conference at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
“Yeah, I think I need to show up at tournaments with enthusiasm every single time,” he said. “So, playing in the places that I want to play, playing the tournaments I want to play. Not feeling like I’m at a tournament because I’m obligated or have to be there, but because I want to be there.
“And I said this last week, but finding joy in the process. You know, like I’m talking about — I’ve been coming here for 20 years. You just think about the amount of balls that I’ve hit and the amount of time I’ve spent on the range on my own. That starts to get tedious 20 years into a career. So it’s like trying to find the joy in that.
“What I really found joy in, I feel like at home is playing golf. I definitely spend more time on the golf course than on the practice range nowadays, and that’s something I’ve started to really, really enjoy.
“So for me, it’s always — it’s basically not make it feel like a job, you know.”
Despite showing up admittedly rusty at Dubai Creek last week, he found himself in the thick of contention on Sunday but came up short, though he suggests that it’s less the results themselves as much as the state of mind that he brings to tournaments that will dictate whether the coming year will be viewed as a success by the man himself.
“I think it’s more the attitude that I bring every single week, and I think if I bring the right attitude and do the right things away from tournament golf [it will be],” he explained. “So at home, and obviously you still need to put the time in to be as good as you need to be and be sharp.
“But yeah, I think it’s bringing that attitude, and knowing my limitations and knowing, okay, this is somewhere I want to play. I’ve always said the results will take care of themselves if you do the other things right, and I think this year my focus is just doing the other things right. Then I feel like I’m a good enough golfer that then the results will take care of themselves.
“You always know more about yourself when you’re in contention, right. Even last week, I made those few birdies on the back nine to get back into contention and then I probably stalled a little bit the last few holes.
“So I learnt a lot from that, and then it’s just trying to put some of those learnings from the last three or four holes on Sunday into this week and just trying to build on what you’ve done.”
McIlroy, a four-time winner of the Dubai Desert Classic, plays alongside defending champion, Tyrrell Hatton and world number three Tommy Fleetwood in rounds one and two, starting round one on the 10th tee at 04:05 Irish time.
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