Omega Dubai Desert Classic: Only victory will do for Rory McIlroy

Report by the European Tour website
February 03, 2016: Rory McIlroy will accept nothing short of victory in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic as a suitable return for four days’ work at the Emirates Golf Club this week, as the world number three seeks to defend his title and join Ernie Els as the only three-time winner in the tournament’s 27-year history.

The Northern Irishman has a very special relationship with Dubai, having won his first tournament as a professional at the Desert Classic back in 2009 before going on to claim two DP World Tour Championship successes (in 2012 and 2015) on top of last year’s second Desert Classic victory.

As a Dubai resident, the stunning metropolis is both literally and metaphorically a second home for the 27 year old from Belfast, but he will have to perform to his highest level to best a field packed with quality this week.

Els, who seems to have conquered his putting “heebie-jeebies” of last year would love to add a fourth Desert Classic title to his incredible CV, with the likes of Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen, Henrik Stenson, Andy Sullivan and Lee Westwood among the biggest names looking to deny McIlroy his hat-trick of wins.

“Leaving here with anything short of a win would be disappointing – of course it would. Leaving any tournament without a win is sort of disappointing, but you try to put a positive spin on it. I think golfers, that’s what we usually do. We are disappointed for a bit and then we try to put positive spins on it, and the nice thing is there’s always a next week in golf,” said a confident McIlroy.

“It’s always nice to be back in Dubai, and I guess the last couple of times I’ve played here, I’ve done pretty well, so I’m sort of going for three in a row in Dubai with winning here last year, and then with the DP World Tour Championship just at the end of last season. So it seems to bring out my best golf. And I’ve got great memories from the Emirates, winning my first tournament, making my first cut as a pro, so it’s always great to be back. I think this is the tenth year since I started coming here and playing in the tournament, so there are a lot of great memories and I get a lot of support here, so I’m obviously looking forward to the week.”

“My injury update is that my knee feels all right. I did a bit of a workout yesterday and I can feel that today a little bit but it should be good. I don’t expect to be 100 per cent this week, either, but it should be good enough once again. It’s going to be that way for the next couple of months I guess,” informed Henrik Stenson.

“I love this tournament – I made Dubai my home for almost ten years. It’s always nice to be back, see a lot of familiar faces, a familiar golf course which I have some great memories from, especially the win back in 2007, of course. It was hard to miss Doha last week. I’ve played every Qatar Masters, every Dubai Desert Classic since I came on Tour in 2001 and every outing in Abu Dhabi since 2006. I’m part of the furniture at these events, and I was ashamed to miss it but felt like I had to give the knee a rest last week. I couldn’t go straight back into playing 11 days of golf more or less coming out of surgery, so it was the wise decision. Hopefully I’m good to go, like I said, this week and it’s great to be back,” added Stenson.

“It’s great to be back here. I love coming to this golf course and I think it’s a great setup for my type of game. You know, you really have to drive the ball well here to keep it in the fairway and give yourself a chance to attack these greens, which are about as good as you’ll ever see,” said Graeme McDowell. “They are fast and they are very firm and a good test of golf. Winning in Mexico at the end of last year really takes the pressure off, and I am coming into the new year feeling a lot looser and a lot fresher and playing better than I was this time last year. I really feel like I can have a big year from here.”

“From really being terrible on the greens, which is probably an understatement, to being 100 percent from five feet and in last week, you know, that’s the improvement I was looking for,” said Ernie Els. “I’m starting to feel more comfortable. I’ve got to put a couple more things together in my game, but the things I’m working on on the greens are starting to come around a little bit, which is so pleasing for me. For a while I had the heebie-jeebies. I’ve had some bad years but last year was probably the worst. It was all on the greens and it was really getting into my head.

“I mean, you cannot play the game if you can’t putt. You might as well find another job. So I was thinking that for a while! I’m looking forward to this year. There are some great Major venues with the US Open at Oakmont, then Troon and Baltusrol for the US PGA. We’ve got great tournaments coming up. I’d love to make a bit of noise this year as much as I can.”