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Dubai: Rory McIlroy is happy to be back in the mix after joking that his game was so wayward in South Africa last week that he had more chance of finding lions than leaderboards.
The Northern Irishman finished tied for 21st at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City on Sunday.
It followed a similarly infuriating week for him in Shanghai at the WGC HSBC Champions in China where he finished tied for 54th.
A second round of 67 on Friday, however, took him up to tied for sixth at eight-under at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, finally bringing the four-time Major winner out of safari mode.
“There would have been no point looking at them,” he said of leaderboards at the last two events. “I wouldn’t have been anywhere near them, I was looking more at wildlife, trying to find elephants and lions than leaderboards.
“It’s nice to be back in the mix, it hasn’t been a while because it’s only been two stroke-play tournaments (since he finished tied for seventh at the Tour Championship in September) but time-wise even the Ryder Cup feels an age away.”
Of his round of four outward birdies and three on his return with a bogey on either nine, he said: “It’s been a big improvement considering how I played in China, I did a little bit better last week in Sun City, but it’s been a big improvement again.
“I think getting the driver in my hands and feeling confident feeds the whole way through the rest of my bag.
“I hit good drives. I’m able to get myself chances from the fairway, and then hit good iron shots and give myself a lot of birdie tries.
“I felt like I left a couple out there today, but it’s nice to hit 67 and feel that way, I haven’t felt like that in a while.”
With his last win coming at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, McIlroy added: “I just want to give myself another chance to win a golf tournament. I’ve given myself plenty of chances this year. I just haven’t capitalised on those chances.
“I need to shoot another good round tomorrow to get myself right in contention on Sunday, and hopefully if I can do that, I can play some good golf and it would be nice to win for a third time out here,” he said if reference to his two previous DP World Tour Championship wins in 2012 and 2015.
McIlroy stated earlier in the week that he may not take up European Tour membership next year in order to play more in the States against better players as he looks to return to contention in the Majors.
With that in mind, a win in the European Tour’s season-ending event here in Dubai this week would be a fitting farewell for him until he returns to this side of the Atlantic the following season to accrue points to qualify for Europe’s next Ryder Cup squad in 2020.
Missing a European Tour season would however put him out of contention for a future Ryder Cup captaincy, a fact that may persuade him to reconsider his decision as he only needs to play four events outside the Majors and WGCs to satisfy membership criteria.
