Rory Mcilroy Looks To Clinch Race To Dubai Title With New Swing After 3 Weeks Shut Away In A Studio

Rory McIlroy can finish a season as European tour’s top player for sixth time with a win at Abu Dhabi Championship this week.

He’ll attempt to do so with a new swing.

. 3-ranked McIlroy said he has been hunkered down in a studio — first in Florida, n in New York — for three weeks, just hitting balls at a screen with a modified swing and t even looking at flight of his shots.

He hasn’t liked shape of his swing for a while, he said Wednesday, and wanted a more robust one that could hold up in most pressure-filled moments following a number of missed chances this season. most table was at U.S. Open in June, where he missed two putts in 3-foot range in final three holes on Sunday to pave way for a victory for Bryson DeChambeau and extend McIlroy’s dece without a major title.

“ only way I was going to make a change, or at least move in right direction, with my swing was to lock myself in a studio and t see ball flight for a bit and just focus entirely on movement,” McIlroy said.

“It’s something, he ded, "just to make my golf swing more efficient, and n if it is more efficient, n it means it’s t going to break down as much under pressure. If I look at my year, one thing that I would criticize myself on is fact that I’ve h se chances to win.”

McIlroy has won twice this year — at Dubai Desert Classic and Wells Fargo Championship — and has h four second-place finishes, including recently at Irish Open and BMW PGA Championship on European tour.

That has left rrn Irishman frustrated but well clear in Race to Dubai rankings that determine best player of year on European tour. A win in Abu Dhabi can seal title and remove some suspense — at least for McIlroy — from final event of season, at World Tour Championship in nearby Dubai next week.

“If I go out and win this week, obviously you kw, it makes it a bit boring next week,” four-time major champion said. “But I won’t find it boring. It will be lovely.”

A sixth Race to Dubai title — it used to be called Order of Merit — would put McIlroy level with late Seve Ballesteros on all-time list and only two behind Colin Montgomerie, who has a record eight.

“I’m a European player,” McIlroy said. “I would like to go down as most successful European of all time. Obviously Race to Dubai wins would count to that but also major championships and hopefully I’ve got a few more Ryder Cups ahe of me as well.

“So that’s something that I would like to (do). I think (it) is a goal that’s quite attainable over next 10 years.”