Rory McIlroy ready to be ‘boring’ and win in Abu Dhabi as he aims to become ‘most successful European'

Northern Irishman can make second leg of first DP World Tour Play-off redundant if he wins Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship

Rory McIlroy during the Pro-Am prior to the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Getty Images

If there is one thing golf spectators in the UAE have learnt watching Rory McIlroy grow up on their fairways over the past decades, it is that he really struggles to do boring.

Memories of the Northern Irishman flirting with danger – often lancing his own chances of a title in the process – in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are legion.

There was the final hole splashdown that set up Viktor Hovland to win the 2022 Dubai Desert Classic. And surrendering a seemingly formidable position to give Li Haotong the title around the same track.

There was the time he went into 'Incredible Hulk' mode and ripped his shirt after giving up a two-shot lead to lose in the final round of the 2021 DP World Tour Championship.

Even right at the start of this year, he presented the Dubai Invitational at the Creek to Tommy Fleetwood on a platter with a faulty final hole.

Or, on the other side of the ledger, those times when he has thrilled on his way to gold. Holing from 40ft for the “best bogey of my career” at the penultimate hole of the 2015 DP World Tour Championship to deprive Andy Sullivan the win.

And when he kept enough of a check on his emotions to see off the challenge of Patrick Reed at the Classic in 2023.

It is the central allure of McIlroy: why bother with boring when you can be box office instead?

And yet he could quite feasibly render the first two-legged finale to a DP World Tour season a complete anti-climax by winning at Yas Links this weekend.

The world No 3 starts the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship with a lead of around 1,600 points in the Race to Dubai. Win around Yas, and it would create an unassailable lead ahead of the season finale at Jumeirah Golf Estates next week.

Even for someone so well versed in sporting drama, that sounds appealing.

“If I go out and win this week, obviously it makes it a bit boring next week,” McIlroy said. “But I won’t find it boring. It will be lovely.”

If he does, as seems likely, claim the Race to Dubai at whichever point over the next two weeks, he will equal Seve Ballesteros’ tally of six order of merit titles. That leaves only Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight, accrued between 1993 and 2005, to surmount.

McIlroy acknowledged claiming that record is a driving ambition for him, but it is not the only one.

“I'm a European player. I would like to go down as the most successful European of all time,” McIlroy, 35, said.

“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. I think that is a goal that's quite attainable over the next 10 years.”

McIlroy has won titles all over the world, but the UAE had been something of the bedrock of his career. His first title on tour was the 2009 Classic at Emirates Golf Club, a tournament he has now won a record four times in all.

“I first came to the UAE as a 16-year-old amateur and played in the Desert Classic,” he said.

“Since that year, I think I've come back every year since. I've been coming to this region for nearly 20 years, and got a lot of friends here. I lived in the UAE for four years, as well. It is just a very familiar and comfortable place for me.

“When you have those good feelings, it’s probably a little easier to play good golf, and I've had success here. I think that's made me want to come back each and every year.

“They are some of the strongest events we have on the DP World Tour and I want to come back, and not only support them, but come back and win them. Because I know every time I come here and tee it up, I have a good chance to win because I'm so familiar and comfortable with the golf courses as well, maybe apart from this one.”

McIlroy will start his pursuit of a first title at Yas Links when he goes off at 9.23am on Thursday alongside his two closest challengers for the order of merit, Thriston Lawrence and Rasmus Hojgaard.