Rory McIlroy is hoping to secure “the final piece of the puzzle” and win another major in 2024.
The Northern Irishman makes his season debut at the Dubai Invitational tomorrow with a clear target for the year of recording a fifth major win with his last coming in August 2014 at the PGA Championship.
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It is a lengthy drought for a player as talented as McIlroy, who has been trending in the right direction with seven top-10 finishes in his last eight major starts.
He told Golf Digest: “I’m excited for the year. This is my 18th full season on tour, which is mad to think about. But I’m as excited as I was for the first one. I think every new year [brings] new opportunities, new goals.
“My consistency has really been there over the last couple of years, without winning one of the big ones.
“I think that’s the final piece of the puzzle for me, especially coming out of Covid and sort of going through some dips in my game and then coming back up and playing so well the last couple years.
“The final piece of the puzzle is trying to knock off one of those four.”
McIlroy is hoping his resignation from the PGA Tour’s policy board, which is still trying to thrash out a deal with LIV Golf-backed PIF, will enable him to focus on the playing side this season.
He added: “I don’t feel like I’m caught up in it all. For the last two years, every time I’d be walking from the locker room to the range, I’d be stopped by someone with a couple of questions.
“I get that I made myself the go-to guy. I was on the board and knew what was going on, so I felt like I could speak to it. Now, if someone asks me, I can honestly say I don’t know what is going on.
“I can’t give the best opinion anymore. Because they aren’t based on absolute facts.”
Ahead of his 2024 debut, Rory McIlroy spoke to the media, saying his “dream scenario” for golf is a world tour. 👀
Read more: HTTPS://T.CO/VEQPXDECSU PIC.TWITTER.COM/RB9LZGIXU7
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) JANUARY 9, 2024
Inevitably, however, McIlroy was asked his opinion about the future of the game, and he believes a more global tour is the way to go.
“The Australian Open, for example, should almost be the fifth major,” he said.
“The market down there is huge with potential. They love golf. They love sport. They have been starved of top-level golf. And the courses are so good.
“The South African Open is another I’d have in the mix. Then you have places like Singapore and Hong Kong and Japan. What a market Japan represents. That would be another opportunity.
“We could end up with something that resembles Formula One, but with a little more of an American presence.
“Throw in the four majors and you have a brilliant schedule for the top 70-100 guys, whatever the number is.
“We’d have, say, a 22-event schedule. That would look pretty good to me.”
