Rory McIlroy spoke to the media as he prepares for the Dubai Invitational on the DP World Tour. Rory has had 5 wins in Dubai in his career, so he looks to return to form as he focuses on golf.
Yeah I am I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks um this is a a different way to start the season than than uh than previous ones obviously we played Abu Dhabi and then Dubai Abu Dhabi not at the end of the year which is exciting because it’ll you know
Another big tournament at the end of the season could decide you know the season long race so um this is a nice uh maybe gentler uh introduction back into into golf with this this pram format this week at the creek and then obviously looking ahead to um the the Dubai Desert
Classic next week also uh I have a lot of friends in Dubai and um you know I knew a lot of the amateurs coming to play and I just thought it would be a it would be a nice as I said like a gental introduction treat it more like a
Bit of a practice week see where my game is see if I need to make any adjustments going into uh next week and obviously the you know the the bulk of the Season you know starting off in in in the states in California in a few weeks time
So I just thought it was a good opportunity to to get on the golf course get a card in my hand uh but in a more relaxed setting so I’m you know I’m excited for that for the week I mean I think like I think informally we sort of
Have most of that Global schedule anyway with if you look at what all the the the tournaments that all the top players play informally and sort of without any structure around it and and between a a few different tours I think we have the at least the the majority of what a
Global tour would look like you know you still need to make sure that the biggest tournaments in America are there obviously that’s you know you know the biggest place that we play but also just trying to elevate some of the the other tournaments around the world so you know
Trying to you know Middle East Continental Europe UK and Ireland um you know the Far East whether it be Japan Korea um you know Singapore Hong Kong Australia South Africa I mean you’ve got a lot of different opportunities there and I think if we really want to if everyone’s talking about growing the
Game and trying to you know especially if these investors are going to come into our game and they want to return on their on their Capital you know I think everyone needs to start thinking more globally around it but globally in a in a holistic way not really like this T
That t another tour really like okay well what is the best what is the best structure for elite men’s professional golf so you know the top 70 to 100 guys in the world and what what would that look like especially if if the game is to look different going forward and everything’s
On the table I just think it’s worth having that conversation you said with with the Proviso in mind that Corporate America must be involved why is that so important to you because they have the most money basically um you know they’ve proved over the last you know the PJ tour has
Proved over the last 20 or 30 years that Corporate America is very interested in the game of golf for a number of different reasons and um you know America is is still a huge market for our GM but I think because a Market America has become such a huge Market
It’s maybe not let other um markets around the world Thrive as well and and if we can sort of all start to work together a little bit more I think you know a rising tide lifts All Ships or or all boats and um that would be sort of
The mindset that I would that I would um I guess come to you know that thinking of what the best thing is for for professional golf to go to the far F corners of the world that you’ve talked about would players need to be contracted to to play a
Certain number of tour events in this new world tour idea You’ had yeah I think when you look at different sports and the media landscape and how much these media companies are paying for sporting events I think you have to be able to guarantee them the product that
They’re paying for um so in my opinion yeah I would say that people would have to be contracted and um and sign up to a certain number of events every year that that the that the sponsors and the Media Partners know that you know the guys that they want to
Be there are are going to be there yeah it is it’s nice to have a little bit more free time again uh and whether that’s to spend you know a bit more time on the golf course or practicing or a bit more time with my family or just
Doing other things that I enjoy doing um you know it’s going to be nice and but yeah I’m I’m excited for the the Year this is my uh think it’s my 18th full season on tour which is mad to think about but uh I’m I’m I’m as excited as I
Was for the first one um I think every New Year it’s a you know obviously new year new opportunities uh new goals and you know my my consistency has really been there over the last couple of years um without winning one of the big ones
And you know I think that’s the you know the final piece of the puzzle um for me especially coming out of Co and and sort of going through some dips of my game and then coming back up and I’m playing so well the last couple of years you
Know the final piece of the puzzle is is trying to knock off one of those big four
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Describe LIV without saying LIV and then pretend LIVs model was your own idea