ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Rory McIlroy can end the season because the European tour’s prime participant for the sixth time with a win on the Abu Dhabi Championship this week.
He’ll try to take action with a brand new swing.
The No. 3-ranked McIlroy mentioned he has been hunkered down in a studio — first in Florida, then in New York — for 3 weeks, simply hitting balls at a display screen with a modified swing and never even wanting on the flight of his pictures.
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He hasn’t appreciated the form of his swing for some time, he mentioned Wednesday, and needed a extra sturdy one that might maintain up in essentially the most pressure-filled moments following numerous missed possibilities this season. Probably the most notable was on the U.S. Open in June, the place he missed two putts within the 3-foot vary within the closing three holes Sunday to pave the best way for Bryson DeChambeau’s victory and lengthen McIlroy’s decade with out a main title.
“The one manner I used to be going to make a change, or at the least transfer in the proper course, with my swing was to lock myself in a studio and never see the ball flight for a bit and simply focus totally on the motion,” McIlroy mentioned.
“It is one thing,” he added, “simply to make my golf swing extra environment friendly, after which whether it is extra environment friendly, then it means it is not going to interrupt down as a lot below stress. If I take a look at my 12 months, the one factor that I’d criticize myself on is the truth that I’ve had these possibilities to win.”
McIlroy has received twice this 12 months, on the Dubai Desert Basic and the Wells Fargo Championship, and has had 4 second-place finishes, together with lately on the Irish Open and the BMW PGA Championship on the European tour.
That has left the Northern Irishman annoyed however nicely clear within the Race to Dubai rankings that decide one of the best participant of the 12 months on the European tour. A win in Abu Dhabi can seal the title and take away some suspense, at the least for McIlroy, from the ultimate occasion of the season, the World Tour Championship in close by Dubai subsequent week.
“If I am going out and win this week, clearly you recognize, it makes it a bit boring subsequent week,” the four-time main champion mentioned. “However I will not discover it boring. It is going to be beautiful.”
A sixth Race to Dubai title — it was known as the Order of Benefit — would put McIlroy stage with the late Seve Ballesteros on the all-time record and solely two behind Colin Montgomerie, who has a file eight.
“I am a European participant,” McIlroy mentioned. “I wish to go down as essentially the most profitable European of all time. Clearly Race to Dubai wins would depend to that but in addition main championships and hopefully I’ve received a number of extra Ryder Cups forward of me as nicely.
“In order that’s one thing that I wish to [do]. I feel [it] is a objective that is fairly attainable over the following 10 years.”
