McIlroy Looks to Get 2015 off to Solid Start


Rory McIlroy returns to action for the first time of 2015 at the Abu Dhabi Championship. The event, the fourth in the European Tour's young season, gets underway Thursday at Abu Dhabi Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates.

The 25-year-old Northern Irishman is coming off a season to remember, winning two majors - the British Open and PGA Championship - along with the European Tour's BMW PGA Championship and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational to rise to No. 1 in the world.

McIlroy's excellence was so consistent that he swept the primary player of the year awards in the States, Europe and the golf-media organizations.

But, for all his successes last year and in the past, the Ulsterman has not gotten over the hump at the Abu Dhabi Championship. He's finished second in the tournament three of the last four years.

That close-but-no-cigar statistic is certainly not a matter of his being unfamiliar with the venue. "It's a golf course I've always felt comfortable on, one that has suited me, and I have played well here," said McIlroy, who finished runner-up last year to Spain's Pablo Larrazabal.

"This is my eighth year in a row starting the season off here, so I'm pretty familiar with the place, and looking forward to another strong start to the season."

McIlroy will be part of a star-studded field. Also entered is reigning U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer, No. 2-ranked Henrik Stenson, 2013 winner Jamie Donaldson, Larrazabal, four-time major champion Ernie Els, No. 10 Rickie Fowler, No. 6 Justin Rose, and last week's winner at the South African Open, Andy Sullivan.

 For all the pairings, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015002/teetimes/index.html.

McIlroy, who will in the marquee threesome with Fowler and Italy's Matteo Manassero, believes he's ready for another successful campaign. "I feel 2014 has really set me up for another great year," McIlroy said. "I'm coming in with a nice little bit of momentum, and (my) game is feeling good."

Here's what else McIlroy told reporters during his Tuesday Q&A with the media.

MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us and happy New Year, welcome back to Abu Dhabi, big year ahead obviously for you but let's start with reflecting on last year, tremendous year for you last year. Are you able to look back on that with a certain amount of pride?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, definitely look back on 2014 with a lot of pride. Over the Christmas period there, I had my first chance to really look back and reflect on the year and even watch a few of the highlights at some of the tournaments that I won. So it was, it was nice to reflect. But I feel 2014 has really set me up for another great year this year. I feel like I'm coming into this year with a nice little bit of momentum, and game is feeling good. So it was nice to have that little break, but it's time to look forward now and look towards this season and try and accomplish the goals that I set for myself at the start of this year.

MODERATOR: This tournament, especially, the course obviously suits you. You've played very well, but just haven't had the victory; something to put right this week?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I've come close a couple of times, being on the wrong side of the rule back: Twice out of the last three years and that's cost me. I think one of the goals this week is just to have no penalty shots when I don't need them, and see where I end up at the end of the week. I know they have made a few changes to it, but it's a golf course I've always felt comfortable on, and that suited me, and I've played well here in the past. I think this is my eighth year in a row starting the season off here, so I'm pretty familiar with the place and looking forward to another strong start to the season.

Q. Could we just start off with a little housekeeping? What is your immediate schedule, what are you doing in the future and is it your ambition to cut your sort of number of tournaments down to 22 this year? That something you envisage being able to do?

RORY McILROY: In yeah, 21, 22, I think is a good number. I'm playing here and Dubai. I'm playing Honda, Doral. And then sort of just have to see what my schedule is leading up to the Masters, but they are the four definite so far.

Q. Is there a reason for not playing Houston, let's say, before the Masters, which you would have viewed before as a nice preparation for Augusta?

RORY McILROY: No, not - again, it's not a decision - it's a decision that I haven't really made yet. It really just depends how I'm feeling leading up to that time. But I felt like I've played the last couple of years, and last year it was the week before; the year before it went Houston, San Antonio. So it really depends how I feel. If I feel like I need more golf, I'll play and if not, I'll probably take it off. Just want to feel fresh and ready to go. There's been different ways that I've prepared going into Augusta where I've played the week before; I haven't; I've taken couple weeks off. So really just depends how I feel at that time I think.

Q. You've always said that winning major championships, it is the little steps that allows to you win these tournaments. What are they in terms of this year? What are the goals? Maybe not the obvious ones but what you want to improve on that you think will help you.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, there's always little goals and it's always the process goals are most important. Because it's pretty obvious what anyone sitting up here at this press conference, whether it's today or tomorrow; it's obvious what everyone's goal starting the year: Winning tournaments, winning majors.

It's the little things that you can do in practise and just in everyday life that can maybe help you get to that and be a little bit more consistent and do a couple more things. Every year, I'm flying here and I do a week of prep or ten days of preparation in Dubai before this tournament, and I write my goals down in the back of my boarding pass, and I put it in my wallet and I memorize them. But I don't look at them until the end of the year. So in my back pocket in my wallet is a boarding pass with my goals for this year. I don't really want to share them with anyone else. They are just my little goals, and I'll try and achieve those, and I'll take that boarding pass out at the end of the year and see how well I've done.

Q. Has it got "1A" written on the front of it?

RORY McILROY: It does, yes (laughter).

Q. And have you still got your boarding pass from last year, and when did you look back on it?

RORY McILROY: When was it I gave it to you, didn't I, Sean? I actually didn't achieve everything that I wanted to last year. I wanted to have six worldwide wins. I only had four. But still a good year (laughter).

Q. Was there two majors on it?

RORY McILROY: No. There was one.

Q. Which was one was that, or just any -

RORY McILROY: No, I'm not greedy; whatever.

Q. How long have you been doing that?

RORY McILROY: Probably since the start of my career.

Q. You've given it to Sean? Have you got them all somewhere?

RORY McILROY: Once I don't need them anymore, they are just discarded. It's funny the numbers have gradually gotten less and less. It was 13B, 12A, it's been nice (laughter).

Q. And would you play Bay Hill?

RORY McILROY: It's a strong possibility, yeah. It's one I've never played and one I feel I should play for a lot of different reasons. So, yeah, it's a strong possibility, definitely.

Q. Can I just keep the boarding pass story going? Full boarding pass or just the stub?

RORY McILROY: No, the full one (laughter).

Q. On a serious note, just touching on that, how important is it to not let a distraction of what we're going to ask you in the weeks up to Augusta? Will that distract you from the big picture?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I know what to anticipate leading up to Augusta. And for me it's about trying to treat it as if the same way I have and not put any more emphasis on it than there already is. It's the first major of the year. People have been waiting for eight months for a major to come around. There's so much build up and hype going into Augusta, anyway.

So it's just about making sure I'm as well prepared as I possibly can be going into that event, and I feel like I've got a good routine and mental strategy going into majors now where I try not to let too much affect me, and I try not to look at too much stuff and really just go into my own little world for those couple of weeks. It's been working pretty well, so I'll try to just keep doing what I've been doing and keep to my routines, and if I can do that, that will give me the best possible chance to play well that week.

Q. Have you had a boarding pass where you have ticked off all the goals that you set at the start of the year?

RORY McILROY: No. So I aim pretty high.

Q. And how many things have you actually written down this year?

RORY McILROY: Seven. Seven things.

Q. Just going away from the boarding pass (laughter) -

RORY McILROY: One day I don't need a boarding pass, that's the ultimate (laughter).

Q. Just coming back to this tournament, 10th year, milestone year for this tournament. From your perspective, what has been the most impressive thing about Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, from your perspective?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think I've played in eight of those 10 events, and it's just got better and better every year. And then as I said, it's a perfect place to come out and to prepare for the season. A lot of the guys get here the week before, and try and dust the cobwebs off their clubs after the Christmas break and try and shed a few pounds after all the eating and drinking. But it's great weather, it's a great golf course, and they get a great field each and every year. So to be able to start off your season and test yourself against the best players in the world, it's really tough to get that anywhere else.

So it's fantastic for that, and since HSBC have come on board, as well, they have just made it a little bit bigger and a bit better and attracted more people to it. It's been a great tournament for me starting off the year, and obviously you can see with the strength of the field this week, a lot of people think the same way.

Q. Just wanted to talk about the buildup now, because you talked about the ten days of kind of preparation, but the trigger point with regard to switching on to the 2015 season and getting really started, when was that moment, and how long did you take away from the game over the Christmas period?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, hit my last golf ball - I played Seminole on the seventh or eighth of December, and then I didn't touch a club until - well, that's a lie. My coach, Michael Bannon, came around to the house on Christmas Eve and we were looking through a few videos and stuff, so I was making a few swings in the kitchen. But apart from that, my first practice day was the fifth of January, so it was nearly a month off from hitting a golf ball.

That's when I got switched back onto it. I flew out on the fourth from Dublin to Dubai, and that's when I started to really get into it. You have those sort of six hours to think about what you want to do during the season and write down all my little goals and all that sort of stuff. So that's when I really switched back onto golf mode and get myself back into it.

Q. Are you good at switching off and staying away from the game and not even thinking about it? Can you do that?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, when I'm at home and when I'm with my family and my friends, it's quite easy. Especially when you look outside and you've got no ambition to go out and play golf with the weather that there is. So yeah, I've never struggled. I've never struggled that way. I've always been able to get away from it, which I'm lucky in that way.

Q. You were saying eight years you've played in the Abu Dhabi championship, and obviously Desert Classic and DP World; you know this area extremely well. Over the years we've had some strong fields, Tiger and Phil have played and now we have Rickie has come this year. Has he asked you anything about playing in this region and different things, because this will be a whole new experience for him?

RORY McILROY: It will be. It will be a new experience. But I really respect Rickie for coming here and playing because he recognizes the responsibility that he has to be a global player, and he's hugely popular anywhere he goes. He recognizes that. He knows that if he wants to continue to be that way, he needs to play all over the world.

So it's great to see him here. I haven't spoken to him much about this area. We were at Yas Links just there before we came here to do a little promo thing for HSBC. But yeah, it's his first time to the region, and you know, I'm sure he'll be looked after very well. But if he asks, I can show him around a little bit and know the place pretty well.

Q. How confident are you that this court case won't negatively impact what you're trying to do over the next three months? A lot of people think that might be a problem and a distraction for you.

RORY McILROY: No, it's not at all. I've literally not thought about it since whenever I last had to talk to someone about it. I haven't talked to someone about it again, I just go with what the lawyers say and they tell me to just sit tight and not talk much about it and that's it.

Q. You're obviously -

RORY McILROY: Why would it? It's no big deal. I'll be okay at the end of the day.

Q. You mentioned the occasions where you have fallen afoul of the rule book here unfortunately; just do you feel you have unfinished business with the tournament generally, maybe this year, right those wrongs? And how important is it that you don't let those past occasions frustrate you on the way around?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I definitely feel like I've got unfinished business because I've come close a couple of times. I think I finished second another time, but I think Martin won by like six or seven shots and I didn't really have a chance. But yeah, again, it's a golf course I really feel comfortable on. It's a golf course that I know I can win on and it's just a matter of being smart and being fully aware of what you're doing and not brushing sand off a fringe or not having your foot on a white line that shouldn't be there, so it is what it is. But before, hopefully in the not too distant future I can win this event, because I've come close, and for it be to the eighth year, I feel like I've been patient enough. So hopefully this is the year.

Q. Sorry to press you on the court case again, but the fact that you might have to go on the stand, surely that must be something - hasn't happened to you before, surely that must be something that -

RORY McILROY: Not that I know of -

Q. is in your mind.

RORY McILROY: I mean, not - you know, I just have to get up there and tell the truth. I mean, that's all I need to do.

Q. Just a quick one. What's the one simple thing you are looking forward to most this year? Is there something special?

RORY McILROY: I'm looking forward to all of it. It's going to be a good year hopefully. I mean, St. Andrews for the Open Championship, that's something that's going to be - it's always special when The Open goes back to St. Andrews, so that's going to be nice.

Q. Touching on that, what are your thoughts on the four major venues?

RORY McILROY: Augusta, St. Andrews, Whistling Straits, Chambers Bay I don't really know much about. I've seen pictures. But again, it's funny, I was looking at the schedule, and for me, I've got The Irish Open, I've got the U.S. Open, possibly The Scottish Open and then The Open Championship. So I could be playing four links venues in a row, basically, the middle of the season. That's something you don't get to do every year and something I'm pretty excited about, as well.

Q. Quickly on your schedule: Plan A is to play five events before the Masters?

RORY McILROY: Yes. So Augusta being the sixth, yeah.

MODERATOR: Rory, thanks for your time, good luck this week and good luck with the boarding card.

The transcript for the above interview is courtesy of ASAP Sports.