Rory McIlroy opens up on why he's happy to 'step up' for DP World Tour

You could say, therefore, that it should be no surprise that Rory McIlroy spent part of his press conference for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai talking up the DP World Tour, but there was absolutely no hiding the warmth he currently feels for the circuit he used as the platform to launch his glittering career.

It’s no secret, of course, that McIlroy spent a lot of time and energy fighting the PGA Tour’s corner after the launch of LIV Golf and the divide that created in the game, and he is still perfectly happy to “opine” on matters, having done so just last week when he described the Saudi-backed circuit’s decision to scrap its much-vaunted 54-hole format for 72-holes at the start of next season as a “peculiar move”.

There’s a distinct feeling at the moment, though, that it’s the DP World Tour which matters most to him after the majors, having played in events in Ireland, England and India since the end of the FedEx Cup in the US, now being in the United Arab Emirates for two Play-Off events and also heading to Australia before the end of the calendar year. Oh, and he’s already committed to both the Dubai Invitational and Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January.

“I think there's a wonderful heritage to this tour,” replied the world No 2 to being asked what it was about the DP World Tour schedule that was so important to him. “I think with the fractured nature of the men's professional game at the minute, this tour needs all of its stars to step up and play in the big events.

“I understand that I am one of those people and I want to do my utmost to help in whatever way that I can. I feel quite a responsibility to do that. And to try to make this tour as strong as it can possibly be. I think that's one part of it. And the other part is I enjoy it. I enjoy the places that we play. I enjoy the people that play on the tour. I enjoy the people that work at the tour. We've shared a lot of great moments from Ryder Cups together and great times and it just feels a lot more like home.”

Given he’d finally won The Masters to become just the sixth player to complete a career grand slam, landed the Amgen Irish Open in dramatic fashion in front of frenzied home fans at The K Club and helped Europe retain the Ryder Cup in New York, this correspondent openly admitted it might have sounded a silly question but, nonetheless, it felt right to ask if this is the happiest Rory McIlroy we’ve seen for a long time.

“Yeah, I think it is,” he replied, smiling. “You know, everything in my life is in a good spot and I'm very grateful for that. My desire's certainly not gone. But I think I'm going to have to pick and choose where to sort of place my desire and what I want my goals to be.

“I don't feel like chasing as much anymore. I'm not out chasing the grand slam. I'm very content with what I've done in the game. I'm still driven to do more but it's sort of a pinpoint to drive in certain directions I have a clear head and I'm out of all the political stuff in golf, basically, and I can just focus on playing and playing where I want to and making myself competitively happy by playing in the tournaments that I want to play.

“And then having more time to make myself personally happy with doing the things I want to do away from golf, travelling with my family and showing my daughter different parts of the world and doing things like that I think is a very nice place to be in life.”

In an event that features nine of the 12 players in Europe’s Ryder Cup-winning side at Bethpage Black - Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland have both decided not to play while Sepp Straka is at home in the US attending to a family matter - McIlroy is in a strong position as he bids to win the Race to Dubai title for the fourth year in a row and seventh time in total. He moved level with Ballesteros when claiming the Harry Vardon Trophy 12 months ago and now has Montgomerie’s record haul of eight titles in his sights.

‘Amazing to have sustained excellent for that long’

“To get one closer to Monty would be amazing,” admitted the 36-year-old, with English pair Marco Penge and Tyrrell Hatton being the only players still in with a chance of denying the Northern Irishman on Sunday and finishing second alone will do the job no matter how the others fare.

Montgomerie, of course, claimed the crown seven years in a row. “I think it's amazing to have that sustained excellence for that long,” observed McIlroy, who described it as “very humbling” to be honoured for becoming the first European member of the career grand slam club through the introduction next year of the Rory McIlroy Award, which will go to the DP World Tour member - McIlroy is the only player ineligible - who performs best across the majors.

“There's a lot of people that can have a good year or a two-year run. But to sustain that for seven years straight, it probably doesn't get talked about enough, especially in that golden age of European golf where he's going up against [Nick] Faldo and [Sandy] Lyle and [Bernhard] Langer and Woosie [Ian Woosnam]. Not saying that this isn't a pretty good generation, too, but he had to fend off some really tough competition.”