Rory's ready to race
Dubai Desert Classic champion says he would love to finish on a high in his favourite city
The 20-year-old Northern Irishman, who won the Desert Classic this year, tees off at the inaugural Dubai World Championship today leading the Race to Dubai. And he admits winning the glittering season-ender would be the perfect way to pay tribute to a place with which he undoubtedly shares a special connection.
McIlroy told XPRESS: "Dubai's been a great place for me. It's a place I've always enjoyed coming to. I've said if we can play in Dubai every week, I'd be very, very happy. The weather's great, the golf courses are fantastic.
"It's been very big in my career with sponsors Jumeirah, they've been instrumental in my development as a player. Yeah, it comes down to this week. If I can finish a great season off here in Dubai, it would mean an awful a lot to me."
Earlier in the day, McIlroy, currently ranked 13th in the world, relived his extraordinary rise to stardom since turning pro in September two years ago. "When I turned pro, I never thought that I would be able to get to this point so quickly," said McIlroy who is held in high regard by many of his established peers with Ernie Els being the latest to sing his praises.
"It was only a couple of years ago I was watching these guys on TV thinking, ‘Oh, I'd love to be able to do that one day.' To be sitting here now, 13th in the world, leading The Race to Dubai, I'm just really enjoying it. I'm sort of just living out my dream, and I couldn't be happier."
McIlroy went on to reveal how a conversation with India's Jeev Milkha Singh influenced his decision to take up PGA Tour membership after he was advised to think it over by Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood, his manager Chubby Chandler and Els.
"I went around looking for different opinions. A few of them said. ‘There's no rush, why don't you try and win a bit more over here before going there.' I spoke to Jeev and he said, ‘Why not? Do you want to play over there?' I said, ‘I love playing over there' and he said, ‘There you go'. I think I had to make the decision on my own at the end of the day, but yeah, that was probably the conversation that sort of swung it for me."
