Rory McIlroy says he remains committed to improving having finished the first day of his new season on the top of the leaderboard.
The world No 2 shot a five-under-par 66 to hold a 1-shot lead at the end of the opening day of the Dubai Invitational.
It was his first return to competitive action since he signed off the finest year of his career by winning the Race to Dubai in November.
Despite completing the career slam by winning The Masters last year, McIlroy says he is still working hard to achieve more.
“I like the work,” McIlroy said. “I like the process. I enjoy doing challenging things. And I think if you can make that the important part, and you just make that routine, then you don't need motivation to do it. It's your lifestyle. It's what you do. And it's, I guess, who you identify as.
“And I identify as a hard worker and someone that likes to do those things. I think the more and more you do that, the more it just sort of becomes who you are. And I've done it for so long now that if I didn't do it, it would feel pretty foreign at this point.”
In addition to his workrate, the Northern Irishman is looking to find an advantage with his equipment. McIlroy is using new irons, as well as a new golf ball, at the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club this week.
“If there's help to be had, I'll definitely take it,” he said. “I've been thinking about [using new irons] for a while. Even in Dubai at the end of last year, I hit a couple of 5-irons that I mis-struck slightly. Instead of it maybe coming up five or seven yards short, it was coming up more like 10 to 15 yards short.
“I asked the guys at TaylorMade to build me up a set. And I actually went down to Australia with them, and with that firm turf down there, I felt like those irons were going through the turf better.
“I practiced with them at home since, and I've got a new golf ball in play this week as well, the new 2026 ball. Overall, I like what I've seen at home, and today was a good test for it, and I felt like everything was pretty good.”
McIlroy will start Round 2 a stroke clear of David Puig and Connor Syme, who are tied for second.
Shane Lowry, McIlroy’s opening round playing partner, is on 2-under, in a group of 10 players that also includes the defending champion, Tommy Fleetwood.
The restricted field event also sees the leading pros playing alongside amateurs for the first two rounds.
Puig said the pro-am format, with no cut for the pros, makes for a gentle start to the new season.
“The fact of potentially playing the four days and playing with the amateurs as well, it makes it not as stressful,” Puig said.
“[It is] a great event, and I wanted to be here. To have guys like Rory and Tommy and Shane playing, obviously you want to do well because it's a great event, but they're here too, so you really want to compete.
“Especially seeing Rory's name at the top pretty early, it kind of gets the juices going, and playing with the ams and not having a cut helped a little bit.”
