Rory McIlroy plays down Race to Dubai hopes ahead of Dunhill Links
Wednesday 25 September 2019 18:02, UK
Rory McIlroy has played down his chances of winning the Race to Dubai ahead of playing alongside his dad at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
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The FedExCup champion still has an outside chance of completing 'the double' and ending the year as European No 1 for a third time, although currently sits 24th on the Race to Dubai.
McIlroy is only scheduled to make two more European Tour appearances this season after this week, at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai and the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, with the world No 2 admitting that his schedule limits his hopes of Race to Dubai victory.
"I wouldn't be too confident about doing the double [winning the FedExCup and the Race to Dubai]," McIlroy told Sky Sports. "I'm just not playing enough to do that.
"I'm playing here, then I'm going to the Far East to play a PGA Tour event in Japan and then play in China, which is a co-sanctioned event, and then play Dubai.
"I'm probably not playing enough to win the Race to Dubai, but you never know if I win a couple and at least give myself a chance."
McIlroy arrives in Scotland off the back of top-20 finishes in his last six worldwide starts, following his victory at the Tour Championship with a runner-up finish at the Omega European Masters and then claiming a share of ninth at the BMW PGA Championship last week.
"I guess it's been hard to not view what happened a few weeks ago in Atlanta [Tour Championship victory] as like the end of the season for me," McIlroy added. "I've really needed to try to reset and try to focus on these next few weeks and play well going into the real end of the year.
"I haven't practiced as much as I have done at the end of the summer or anything. I wouldn't be as certain the game is as good as it could be, but I'm hopeful that it's still there and I'm just going to go out and try and play my best.
"I think any time I've played well here, I haven't taken it too seriously because it is so different, and the play is sort of slow and all that sort of stuff. If you try to keep it light-hearted, I think that's when I've been able to play my best."
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Watch the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage begins on Thursday from 1pm on Sky Sports Golf.
