'Veteran' Rory McIlroy on how he aims to stop getting 'bored or frustrated' in 2026

A chat with Rory McIlroy is never dull and the career grand slam winner certainly delivered a few nuggets in a blether with this correspondent and just two other golf writers at Dubai Creek Resort on Saturday after completing his third round in the Dubai Invitational.

It was Tim Barter, in his post-round Sky Sports Golf interview with the Masters champion, who reminded us that this is McIlroy’s 20th year as a professional, having started out on what was then called the European Tour in 2007 before its rebranding as the DP World Tour.

“That's incredible - 20 years,” admitted McIlroy, who landed his first win on the circuit in the Dubai Desert Classic in 2009 and has racked up 20 title triumphs in total.

“It's funny,” he added. “I was actually saying to JJ, one of the lads out there today that I feel like everyone puts me in the sort of generation of maybe Jordan [Spieth], Brooks [Koepka] and JT [Justin Thomas]. But I'm actually closer to Sergio [Garcia) and Adam Scott and Justin Rose in terms of the amount of time I've been out here. Yeah, it doesn't feel like 20 years, but it is.”

He was asked if it was okay to call him a veteran. “Absolutely,” he replied, smiling. “I've been in the top ten in the world since 2009. 2009 doesn't seem that long ago, but that's 16 years. 16 years in the top ten in the world, so, yeah, I'm a veteran.”

After winning the Masters last year to become just the sixth player to complete a career grand slam, McIlroy talked about how it felt he’d reached the top of Everest and having to go again. In terms of goals for this year, what would be the big one?

“I think the big goal is enjoying the work and enjoying the process of trying to achieve the other goals, if that makes sense,” he commented. “If I can be a little more intentional with the week-in, week-out stuff, I can almost make that the important stuff where I'm using those weeks the right way so that when I get to the four or five times a year that actually are important, that I'm ready to go.

“I think that's probably the goal. The goal is not getting complacent or bored or frustrated in the weeks where you're out there. You're playing tournaments, but, at the end of the day, with where I am in my career, 20 years in, a handful of weeks matter. But you have to play more than that to make sure that those handfuls of weeks that do matter, you're in the best place possible to perform.”

Heading into the final round of his opening event of the new calendar campaign, McIlroy trails Spaniard Nacho Elvira by three shots in Dubai, where he led after an opening 66 before undoing that good work with a second-day 74 before coming home in 32 to sign for a 68 on Saturday.

Birdies at the tenth, 13th and 16th lit up his scorecard on the back nine while a chip in to save par at the 17th was a perfect illustration of how his short game can be magic at times. “Yeah, it was nice,” he said of that timely tonic. “Look, I think the reason for maybe my consistency over the last few years has been because of that.

“Even when the long game's not quite firing, I can fall back on my short game and get it up and down. I've made that a strength of the game over the last few years. Unfortunately, I feel like I've needed it more over the last few years, but it's always nice to be able to fall back on it. It takes the pressure off.”

Elvira, who is bidding to land a third DP World Tour title, holds a two-shot lead over Irishman Shane Lowry, Englishman Marcus Armitage and South African Dylan Frittelli after picking up four birdies in the last ten holes in the penultimate circuit in the UAE.

Ewen Ferguson, who was four over for the tournament after running up a triple-bogey 7 at the second hole in Friday’s second round, sits joint-ninth on three under, one ahead of Connor Syme, who celebrated a good par save at the last with a fist pump. Grant Forrest is on level par, with Calum Hill two further back.

“I’m playing really well and the course is playing super tough,” said Dubai-based Ferguson. “When I normally play here, there’s nowhere near as much rough and the greens are also a lot softer. I think it’s good in my head that I know what I could shoot if it was easy and, even though it is playing hard, I am still trying to be around there.”

As for his reaction on the last green, Syme said: “I was just getting so annoyed as every time I made a birdie it felt like I dropped a shot straight afterwards. On a tough day, you need to make some par putts, which I didn’t do. I played well enough to shoot a really good score and, though one under is good, I had too many bogeys out there.”