Rory McIlroy is eyeing history this week at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
After a long season with many highs and even more devastating lows, four-time major winner Rory McIlroy could be relaxing in South Florida and recovering for next season. Instead, he’s in the Middle East grinding for a win. Why? Because he’s playing for history.
McIlroy has won the last two Race to Dubai titles, the season-long points race to identify the champion of the DP World Tour. Formerly known as the Order of Merit, Rory already has five titles in his career. That puts him in elite company.
Seve Ballesteros accumulated six Order of Merit wins in his illustrious career, but the all-time leader is Colin Montgomerie with a whopping eight wins.
But as the second-to-last event of the season begins this week, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, McIlroy once again has a comfortable lead in the Race to Dubai standings. Should he play well this week and at next week’s DP World Tour Championship, he’d match Seve’s total and move to within two of Monty’s record.
On Tuesday in his pre-tournament press conference, McIlroy admitted the season-long title would be on his mind this week.
“A little bit but if I go out and win this week, obviously you know, it makes it a bit boring next week. But I won’t find it boring; it will be lovely,” McIlroy told reporters. “But yeah, all I can focus on is the task at hand and trying to play as well as I can this week, and if I can do that, I’ll give myself an even better chance.”
He continued, “I’ve had a lot of good chances this year. I’ve converted a couple. But I’ve let a few slip away. Try to give myself another two chances to win golf tournaments that are important to me.”
When asked directly whether the chance of passing Montgomerie on the all-time Race to Dubai list is what keeps him trying so hard on the DP World Tour after an arduous full season across the pond, McIlroy said it was “not necessarily that.”
Instead, it’s a different but related lifelong goal that keeps him engaged after already accomplishing so much: becoming the greatest European pro golfer ever.
“I pride myself – I’m a European player. I would like to go down as the most successful European of all time. Obviously Race to Dubai wins would count to that but also major championships and hopefully I’ve got a few more Ryder Cups ahead of me as well,” McIlroy explained. “So that’s something that I would like to, I think is a goal that’s quite attainable over the next ten years. I’m very proud to be from Europe and have sort of, you know, played on this tour and played on this tour consistently.”
He then continued expounding on the idea:
“It’s something that I’m very proud of and I just think of the greats of European golf that I grew up watching, whether it was Faldo or Woosie or Langer or just sort of the really heyday of the European Tour in the ’90s, I guess,” McIlroy said Tuesday. “And yeah, I remember when I got my – not even my European Tour card. I remember when I got my first money clip just when I signed up to be a member and that was a really proud moment for me. That’s something that I’ve always been proud of and something I want to continue to do.”
McIlroy’s quest for Race to Dubai victory No. 6 begins Wednesday night.
