Rory McIlroy has made a celebration of writing down his goals for the Season on the back of his boarding pass on the flight to the Middle East for his first tournament of the year.
However, gone are the days when he could write down the name and the number of tournaments he wanted to win.
For McIlroy, these are now smaller targets, more under his control. And to see the whole picture, he took as a reference the player he called his hero Tiger Woods.
“I’m not saying my game is in any way comparable to his,” McIlroy said Wednesday of Woods, whom he now considers a close friend, “but there are definitely aspects of what he’s done so well in the past that I’d obviously like to do it in my game.”
To that end, McIlroy believes he needs to be “more of a measured, controlled golfer.”
On the way to his opening event at the Abu Dhabi Championship starting Thursday, the four-time champion is expected to be less aggressive from the start, even if it could rob him of one of his best qualities-his course.
“I’m definitely going to pick my spots where I can tap and meet the driver, but the best player of the last 30 years, Tiger, picked and chose where he met driver, and he played a very, very controlled game,” McIlroy said. “It didn’t work out so bad for him.”
McIlroy had the second-longest average on the PGA Tour – behind Bryson DeChambeau – but was below the Fairway average and finished at 145th.
His driving will certainly be tested on the Yas Links this week, the Fairways are tight and the wind is expected to last until the weekend.
For McIlroy and all the other players, it will be a new experience This week since the tournament — a Rolex Series event and one of the most prestigious on the European Tour — was held until this year at the nearby Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
The northerner had a strong record there-four second-place finishes and four more top-three finishes in his 11 appearances-without ever crossing the line. Last year he led after 54 holes, but shot 72 in the final round and finished five shots behind winner Tyrrell Hatton.
“Maybe what’s needed to win this thing in the end is a change of golf course,” he said. “It was always a great place to start the year for me. I’ve always played well and hopefully I can continue that trend this week.”
Hatton, an Englishman ranked 22, is back to defend his title but said on Wednesday he was struggling to motivate himself to train.
“I’m not really focused while I’m here. It can be a waste of time,” Hatton said. “When I do the movements of almost what I do, when I warm up before playing, I walk around any other Club in my pocket and I do it on the Range. In general, I’ve been like this for a long time.”
