One part of the secret to Rory McIlroy’s success this year has been a reduced playing schedule, and the world number two – who ticked the biggest box of all in completing the career Grand Slam with his Masters win back in April – is open to further scaling down his itinerary going forward in his pursuit of other goals.
“I would say, if anything, playing even less than I have this year,” remarked McIlroy of his plans going forward with already two decades of life on tour behind him.
McIlroy – competing in this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and next week’s DP World Tour Championship finale – is on the cusp of a seventh career Harry Vardon Trophy for topping the order of merit, which would place him one behind Colin Montgomerie’s record eight, and doesn’t envisage any way he’d reduce his playing options on his home circuit, rather more inclined to further cut back on his commitments on the PGA Tour.
“I think I’ll play the same amount of tournaments on the DP World Tour, if not more, but I’ve alluded to the fact that I’m going to play a little bit less just throughout the year, really prioritise the Major championships and a few of the other bigger events,” said McIlroy, who is now 36 years of age, adding:
“The world of golf does a really good job of keeping you on the hamster wheel. And sometimes it’s nice to get off that hamster wheel and do things your own way.
“Look, I’m not getting any younger. If I want to play competitively for another 10 years like Justin Rose has, for example, I have to remember that I’m not 23 any more and I can’t play that schedule forever. So I think to try to have the longevity that I want to have, I’m going to have to cut back my schedule a little bit over these next few years to make sure I stay injury-free and I play up until the point that I want to.
“I feel like I’m a better player now than I was 10 years ago, and what, when I’m 46 and not 36, I don’t know if I’ll be able to say that. But I definitely think that I can still keep improving in certain areas and get even better. That’s a fun thing to be able to say nearly 20 years into a professional career.”
Are Ireland sliding down rugby’s global pecking order?
McIlroy is number one on the Race to Dubai standings with just the two tournaments in the UAE left, although both have elevated points in the no-cut fields – reduced to 50 plus those European Ryder Cup players from Bethpage who don’t make that criteria but qualify under a special exemption – which means there remains work to do to close the deal.
As thing stand, McIlroy has a 441 points lead over English player Marco Penge – 4,132 points to 3,691 – while third placed Tyrrell Hatton also has a mathematical chance, but that would be dependent too on the Northern Irishman not playing well in each event on courses where he has traditionally performed well. McIlroy, it would seem, has destiny in his own hands.
The Lowdown
A general view of the 17th hole at Yas Links Golf Course. Photograph: Andrew Redington/Getty Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
Purse: €8.3 million (€1.35 to the winner)
Where: Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE
The course: Yas Links is located close by the Arabian Gulf. Designed by Kyle Phillips, it plays host to the championship for the fourth. It is a contrived links – 7,425 yards Par 72 – and wind off the gulf will be a factor. There are eight spectacular holes located along the Gulf shoreline and, placing an emphasis on course management, the layout features more than 140 bunkers.
The field: Its position as the penultimate tournament on the DP World Tour schedule with elevated points has ensured a stellar field headlined by world number two Rory McIlroy. Eight members of Europe’s winning Ryder Cup team are in action – McIlroy, Lowry, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Ludvig Åberg, Matt Fitzpatrick, Rasmus Højgaard and Robert MacIntyre – while Tom McKibbin comes in on the back of his fine win in the Link Hong Kong Open on the Asian Tour last weekend, which earned him places in next year’s Masters and Open Championship.
Quote-Unquote: “This week and next week. I definitely want to finish 2025 as strong as possible. I think, on the whole, there’s definitely some goals left in 2025. Certain ones that I can’t reach now and certain ones that I still can. Looking towards 2026, I still feel like I have a lot to give and a lot of improvements that I can make. So I think there’s more potential in me. Whether that’s the case or not, we don’t know. We’ll see where my career takes me and where my golf takes me” – Tommy Fleetwood, who won the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour, focusing on the immediate challenge of the closing two events on the DP World Tour this season and also on what lies ahead next season.
Irish in the field: Shane Lowry can thank the previously little-known exemption for current Ryder Cup players for getting into the field, rewarded with a tee-time that has him playing alongside fellow-European winning members Fleetwood and Højgaard (off the 1st, 4.01am Irish time); Rory McIlroy is in a group with Tyrrell Hatton and Marco Penge (off the 1st, 5.23am Irish time), while Tom McKibbin is in a three-ball with Keita Nakajima and Martin Couvra (off the 1st, 7.39am Irish time).
Tyrrell Hatton of England tees off. Photograph: Richard Heathcote/Getty
Betting: Yas Links has produced a variety of winners in its previous three stagings of the tournament – Paul Waring last year, Victor Perez in 2023 and Thomas Pieters in 2022 – so there is a rather open market to consider. Rory McIlroy is the 5-1 favourite ahead of Tommy Fleetwood at 11-2 but it is Tyrrell Hatton – runner-up to Waring last year – who looks well priced at 8-1. Marco Penge is worth an each-way look at 22/1 while Alex Fitzpatrick’s strong run of form which has earned him a place in the field is also worth an ew look at 60-1.
On TV: Live on Sky Sports (live coverage from 4am).
