Rory McIlroy is back in action this week as he takes on the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on the DP World Tour.
McIlroy will play at the DP World Tour Championship next week as well, followed by the Australian Open in December.
The 36-year-old leads a star-studded field at Yas Links GC this week, where he is joined by the likes of Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton.
McIlroy enters the tournament sitting atop the Race to Dubai rankings, having accumulated 4,132.56 points from his nine DP World Tour events.
Rory McIlroy drops hint over how long he intends to keep playing golf for
It’s a busy period for McIlroy as the 2025 season winds down, with the Northern Irishman having now been tasked with looking ahead to 2026.
Ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, he was asked if he will cut down his schedule next year, just as he did this time around.
He replied: “I would say, if anything, playing even less than I have this year. I think I’ll play the same amount of tournaments on the DP World Tour, if not more, but I’ve alluded to the fact that I’m going to play a little bit less just throughout the year. Really prioritise the major championships and a few of the other bigger events.
“But the world of golf does a really good job of keeping you… I describe it as keeping you on the hamster wheel. And sometimes it’s nice to get off that hamster wheel and do things your own way.
“Look, I’m not getting any younger. If I want to play competitively for another ten years like Justin Rose has, for example, I have to remember that I’m not 23 anymore and I can’t play that schedule forever.
“So I think to try to have the longevity that I want to have, I’m going to have to cut back my schedule a little bit over these next few years to make sure I stay injury-free and I play up until the point that I want to.”
READ MORE: Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship 2025: Field, tee times, prize money and everything you need to know
Rory McIlroy suggests the difference between European and American golf right now
It’s certainly been a busy season for the Northern Irishman, who made five appearances in events run solely by the DP World Tour.
In addition, there were 12 starts on the PGA Tour, along with his appearances in the four major championships and the Ryder Cup.
McIlroy certainly doesn’t need to justify his scheduling decisions, while his comments on the matter are nothing new.
The golfing world is well aware of just how much he has managed to achieve in his career, and indeed what he wants to do moving forward.
For now, however, he is part of a very exciting field at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, where he is paired with Hatton and Marco Penge.
Meanwhile, Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and Rasmus Hojgaard are paired together for rounds one and two at Yas Links.
In that light, McIlroy was asked how he thinks the level of European golf is perceived worldwide with regard to the DP World Tour, and indeed what he thinks can be done to improve it.
He responded: “Yeah, I don’t think anyone’s doubting the quality of the golfers that come from this tour or outside of America, for example.
“That’s been shown. You look we’ve won the last nine of the 13 Ryder Cups. The top of the European game is very good.
“What I would say is the depth of the fields in America are probably just a little deeper. But I’d say the quality at the top of Europe is very similar to what it is anywhere else in the world.
“And it’s then just trying to get all the best players together a little more often. I think because the game is so fractured at the minute, you don’t get the best fields playing against each other all the time.
“It’s very seldom. It’s the four major championships, and then maybe a few other times throughout the year.
“But it is nice to come to this tournament or next week in Dubai, and you’ve got pretty much all the best players from Europe and the rest of the world, playing against each other, which is as a competitor, that’s what you want.
“You want to tee up in tournaments that have the best fields and knowing that if you’ve come out on top, you’ve beaten pretty much everyone there is to beat.”
It should be another exciting event in Abu Dhabi, with Penge right behind his playing partner McIlroy in the Race to Dubai rankings.
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