ABU DHABI ALDAR GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

November 4, 2026

Rory McIlroy

Yas Links

Quotes

Q. Your 15th appearance in this championship, you've been second four times and third six times but haven't yet won it. How big a sense of unfinished business is there?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, there is. I feel like the UAE in general has been a good place for me. But yeah, it's crazy to think that the 15 years that I've been coming here with how many times I've been in contention, I haven't been able to get over line.

Yeah, hopefully this year, hopefully I give myself another chance. I feel like we played at Abu Dhabi Golf Club for a lot of years, and then from coming here, you know, recently, the course is definitely growing on me. I think the first time I played it, I probably didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoy now.

I think a big po, art of that is conditioning of the course and how great the greens are and the surrounds and the fairways everything and.

Yeah, obviously I'd love to win. I need a big week to give myself a real chance going into Dubai next week, as well. Yeah, hopefully I play well and at least give myself another chance.

Q. You weren't at your brilliant best in India, and admitted to being lightly prepared, and said you were going to go home for a couple weeks to really work on your game. How sharp is it feeling now?

RORY McILROY: I worked on it a little bit. It feels pretty good. I think this course sets up better for me than Delhi Golf Club does, and get the longer clubs in my hand a little bit more.

And I've played well here before. Coming off, I think I shot 10-under in the final round here last year. So I know how to get around this golf course. I would say that, yeah, I'm probably still not where I'd like to be in terms of preparation and everything, but I've had a lot of stuff going on. But I'm at least satisfied with where my game is and feel like it's good enough to contend.

Q. Third in The Race to Dubai, chasing down that eighth title, of the seven you've won, you've led into the last tournaments and this time you're the hunter, not the hunted. Any thoughts on that?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, it will be interesting the next few days with Patrick and Eugenio out there. Patrick has maybe a bit more experience but especially Eugenio, his first time or experience in a position like this. It will be great to play with him next two days and see how he handles that.

But yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited to be in the conversation. I wish I had played a bit better in India to get myself a little bit closer to those two guys.

But there's so many points on offer here and next week in Dubai. I know either two good finishes or a win and a good finish, I'll be right there.

Q. When you started the year, how high on your list of goals was winning a record eighth Race to Dubai title?

RORY McILROY: It was high. Compared to, say, Patrick and Eugenio, I do it another way. I tried to play well in the major championships, and basically I have the four majors and The Scottish Open, which are like the big ones that I need to play well in, and Dubai Desert Classic at the start of the year as well.

Then once The Open Championship done, I turn my attention to The Irish Open and Wentworth and things like that. But the bulk of my work because done at the majors and The Scottish Open. It's a different way to do it. I sometimes wish I had the opportunity to play a bit more over here in the middle of the season, but just with the way the golf world is, that isn't quite possible.

It's always a goal. You just hope you play well in the big tournaments early in the year so you give yourself a chance at this time of the year to win it.

Q. Some comments released overnight from Guy Kinnings from the DP World Tour talking about the impact that LIV has had on the Tour over the last few years, saying that it actually wanted to destroy the DP World Tour. What's your reaction to those comments and thoughts on the Tour moving forward?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I agree with Guy. It did. Verbatim. They were going around at Augusta this year telling people that that's what they wanted to do.

And then, it's ironic that a week later, now they are talking about completing and not competing and all that. That's different from what they were saying at the start of the year. I think everything that's transpired, a lot of the guys wanted to come back and play the DP World Tour. I think it puts this tour in a really strong position.

I know they are working through a new agreement with the PGA Tour post-'27 after the first Strategic Alliance is sort of over or is able to be renegotiated, and I know that things are progressing there and hopefully that will all get done here over, maybe over the next few weeks. I think this is as strong as this tour has been in a long, long time. You know, I saw thought what Guy had to say last night in that article was very good.