Rory McIlory knows where he wants to finish his playing career and it’s not in America.
Rory McIlory plans to return to the UK once he is done playing golf at an elite level, but not for at least 10 years at the top of his sport.
The four-time major champion heads to Dubai this week with his DP World Tour Order of Merit title and £2m prize money secured.
McIlroy had a successful season, winning the Dubai Desert Classic and Scottish Open as well as winning the Ryder Cup again with Europe in Rome, where he produced a typically outstanding performance.
He also narrowly missed out on adding another major to his collection when he finished one stroke behind Wyndham Clark at the US Open in June, something he regrets.
Speaking at a pre-tournament press conference in Dubai, McIlroy rated his current campaign, which has firmly established him as the current world No 2.
as “7 out of 10”.
He told Golf Digest Magazine: “I had the two wins and my best ever Ryder Cup.
So I’ve been happy with the year.
I’ll rue that miss at LA.
I had a great opportunity to choose another major but I didn’t.
“But I’m not going to let that take away from the fact that this has been another really stable and strong year.
” My game is still as good as ever.
McIlroy revealed he plans to be at the top of his game for at least another 10 years, by which time he will be in his 40s.
At the moment, he is considering moving to the London area, where he bought a house for his wife Erica and her family.
The 34-year-old tennis player still hopes to sweep the professional tournaments, leaving only the American Masters to conquer after winning the Open, the US Open and the PGA Championship twice.
But in the meantime, he will be content with winning the European Tour Order of Merit for a fifth time, even if he doesn’t even have to play the club at Jumeirah Golf Estates this week to do it that.
Speaking to the assembled media, he said: “I probably would have liked to have won it another way. “But I’ve played well when I’ve came back over to the European Tour this year. I won two Rolex Series events and had some other really high finishes. So it’s really nice to have my name on the Harry Vardon Trophy for the fifth time and be just one behind Seve [Ballesteros] and still a few [three] behind Monty [Colin Montgomerie].
“To be up alongside them is really something. If someone had told 18-year-old Rory when I was making my professional debut in 2007 that I would have won five Order of Merits up to this point, I wouldn’t have believed them.
“It shows the consistency that I’ve played with over the last few years. Even though I don’t feel like I’ve had a great year, I can still achieve things like this.”
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