At the end of a year that has included a Masters triumph (and with it completion of the career Grand Slam), victories at Pebble Beach and TPC Sawgrass, a tumultuous Irish Open win, and a leading role in Europe’s Ryder Cup glory at Bethpage Black, Rory McIlroy started last week explaining that his head is in a good place.
Moreover, the on-the-course success is, he believes, a consequence of stepping down from the PGA Tour Policy Board two years ago and with it taking a back seat in the civil war with LIV Golf.
“I have a clear head and I’m out of all the political stuff,” he said ahead of the first round of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. “When your name is on something, you want to do it to the best of your ability. That’s who I am as a person. Whether that’s being on the PGA Tour board, or being the face of a brand, or being involved in an investment fund. You want to do it to the best of your ability. It would be a disservice to myself and the people around me if I didn’t do it like that.
“When I was on the board, I read the board materials. I was clued in. I talked to people. I got different opinions. That was something that I really wanted to do, but at the same time I felt like it was taking away from some of the other things I want to do in my life.
“You can’t keep all the plates spinning at the same time and something had to give. If you look at my golf since [resigning], it’s been a pretty good run.
“Having more time to make myself personally happy with doing the things I want to do away from golf, traveling with my family, showing my daughter different parts of the world. Doing things like that is a very nice place to be in life.”
The Northern Irishman might have given up his formal role in the game’s politics but he remains a golfer of convictions.
“Stepping away from that stuff has definitely made me happier from a golfing perspective,” he said. “But, look, I sit and opine on the politics of the game, like I did last week with LIV and 72 holes. I can still give my opinion on it. ”
On Tuesday, the DP World Tour announced the inauguration of the Rory McIlroy Award, a new annual trophy that will be presented to the tour member who earns the most Race to Dubai points in each season’s four major championships starting in 2026.
McIlroy himself said: “To have something named after you that will be presented to future generations of players is a huge honour and very humbling.
“I’m incredibly proud to be the first European to achieve the career Grand Slam. The majors represent the pinnacle of our sport, and I hope my success can inspire other DP World Tour members to chase and achieve their own dreams for years to come.
“I look forward to seeing who becomes the first recipient of this new award in 2026 and it will be another very proud moment for me to present the trophy to them.”
DP World Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings added: “Rory has already made such an immense contribution to our tour and to golf in general across his career to date. He is also a wonderful ambassador for global golf, so we are incredibly pleased to unveil the Rory McIlroy Award in his honour.”
McIlroy is ineligible to win the eponymous new gong and it was a detail Tommy Fleetwood was quick to note.
“The Rory McIlroy Award that Rory can’t win,” the Englishman said with a smile. “I like the sound of that.”
When the laughter had died down in the media centre he added: “You think about things Rory’s achieved, the history he’s created and where he will sit in the game when he’s finished playing – he’s an unbelievably special talent.
“He’s still got so much more to give, but having an award named after you is something he should be very proud about. I look forward to challenging for it next season.”
Fleetwood had started the week having to address accusations of him engaging in gamesmanship ahead of the playoff in the previous week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. He did so in typically calm and composed fashion.
The issue was his late arrival on the tee for the first extra hole where his opponent Aaron Rai was waiting. “This is what I don’t like,” said Andrew Coltart on the Sky Sports broadcast. “To me, they’ve both got to arrive at the tee at the same time. I don’t like that. That gives the person who arrives on the tee last an advantage.”
The on-course commentator Wayne Riley added that it was “a little gamesmanship.”
It was always an unlikely scenario because the two golfers are good friends and it transpired that there was a straightforward explanation.
“We walked off the 18th and I was desperate to go to the toilet,” Fleetwood revealed. “I said to Miguel [Vidaor, the tournament director], ‘Can I please go to the toilet?’ He said yes. I ran to the toilet, ran to the tee and that was how it happened.”
He then emphasised: “I would hope that everybody knows that I wouldn’t do anything like that. I had just played with Aaron for 36 holes, we are unbelievably close and unbelievably supportive of each other in our careers.”
The long-term partnership between DP World and what was formerly known as the European Tour was extended last week. The new partnership agreement, which is the largest in the tour’s history, will see DP World continue as the tour’s title partner and official logistics partner until 2035.
The original agreement was initiated in 2022 and saw the European Tour retitled the DP World Tour. “The first stage of our landmark title partner relationship has been focused on raising awareness globally of the DP World brand and building a strong pipeline of new business leads for their sector-leading services,” explained Kinnings.
“The partnership has evolved and will see DP World continue to become an integral cog in delivering our global tournament schedule, utilising their supply chain expertise. It is further proof that the DP World Tour is going from strength to strength.”
DP World Group deputy CEO and chief financial officer Yuvraj Narayan added: “This long-term investment demonstrates our belief in the tour’s future and our commitment to making golf more inclusive and sustainable. New events such as the recent DP World India Championship show how we are supporting the game’s growth and accessibility for the long term.”
Further elements of the renewed agreement see DP World continue as title partner of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai until 2035 and DP World becoming an official partner to a further 15 tournaments each season. Moreover, after a successful debut, the DP World India Championship will return in 2026.
In yet more off-the-course news, the DP World Tour and Sky Sports announced a four-year partnership extension that keeps the Ryder Cup and the DP World Tour with the broadcaster until at least the end of 2029 in the UK and Ireland.
Sky Sports golf coverage enjoyed record-breaking figures in 2025. The Ryder Cup was an integral part of the most-watched weekend in Sky Sports history, with 5 million viewers tuning in across the three-day tournament. The Sunday singles session alone attracted the highest-ever peak audience for the sport on Sky Sports, with one in four viewers watching the dramatic finale, including more than 40 percent of under-35s.
Jonathan Licht, Sky’s chief sports officer, said: “Extending our long-standing partnership with the DP World Tour comes at a time when golf viewership is reaching record heights [including] record audiences for the tour at the Amgen Irish Open. We know there will be many more unmissable moments from the season-long Race to Dubai over the next four years.”
Matt Cooper