Rory McIlroy explains what he needs to work on after finishing 4th at the Dubai Desert Classic

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Rory McIlroy produced a fine final round over in Dubai to finish fourth at the Dubai Desert Classic and continue his fine form in the tournament over the years.

After McIlroy predicted the score wouldn’t improve too much from round three at the top, he was proven right as Tyrrell Hatton won by shooting a final round three-under for a finish of -15.

For the Northern Irishman, he left himself just too much to do in terms of winning. However, McIlroy was happy to see Hatton come out on top at his expense.

Still, there was cause for optimism for McIlroy, who assessed his own game at the end of the tournament.

Rory McIlroy knows where he needs to improve after the Dubai Desert Classic

Speaking to the press after his fourth place finish in Dubai, McIlroy was questioned on his new swing and where his game is.

And for McIlroy, it’s very much more down to course management than his actual swing.

“Probably just a little bit of game management,” McIlroy commented. “I think when you take a few weeks off and you come back to play like a really good tournament setup like this, I look at some flags on greens and like, ‘whoa, that’s quite a bit further to the right than I thought it would be’ or that’s quite a bit further to the left.

“When you’re playing at home and the flags are in the middle of the greens, it just gives you a different visual. Then you get out here, and your aim lines start to become a little different.

“I think playing a week like this, it sort of gives me a good appreciation for what I need to do the next few weeks.”

When is Rory McIlroy next playing golf?

McIlroy has spoken of his schedule being trimmed down a touch this year but he will be featuring more as part of the TGL.

In terms of his next outing, McIlroy will make his TGL debut on the 27th of January, before heading to the west coast to play in the AT&T at Pebble Beach.

McIlroy is then in TGL action again before going to the Genesis Invitational. From there, McIlroy has around a month of TGL weeks before the big events kick in, starting with the Arnold Palmer at the beginning of March.

It will be interesting to see if McIlroy is impacted in anyway by playing in TGL.