Rory McIlroy has had 11 top fives in the first tournament during his 13 years in the professional game, but typically he finds the biggest surprise is he’s yet to win.
The Northern Irishman returns to the European Tour for the first time in over a year at the Abu Dhabi Championship this week, looking for another fast start after he admits the first coronavirus lockdown – and the birth of his daughter – threw him in 2020.
“11 top fives in 13 years, the fact that there is no win in there is a little surprising, I guess,” he said.
“I come out at the start of the year and I don’t think you’re as fully sharp as you would want to be.
“But at least the optimism is there and the enthusiasm is there. There’s not any scar tissue built up from previous tournaments that year. I feel like every year is a fresh start and I like that feeling.”
Rory didn’t win at all in 2020, his last victory coming in China in the November of 2019.
“That does feel like a long time ago, the world was a much different place back then than it is now,” he said.
“I had a great start last year. Didn’t really play that great coming back out of lockdown, but then felt like I was starting to play a lot better as the season came to an end.
“I try to stay as patient as possible, but what I will say is that last win does feel like quite a long time ago at this point.”
His goals for 2021 are mostly details about his game, areas where he knows he needs to improve.
“They’re stats-related goals, a couple that stood out to me last year where I needed to be a little bit better,” he said.
“One is approach play out of the rough, which is sort of random, but I hit 60 percent of fairways, so that means 40 percent of the time I’m hitting out of the rough.
“Putting between four and eight feet wasn’t quite as good as it was the previous year, it was a couple little things like that.
“They’re goals that if I practise the right way and I get those right, then it will sort of be a knock-on effect and help everything else.”
Perthshire’s Calum Hill was the beneficiary of the first case of Covid-19 on the European Tour this new season forcing the withdrawl of Ryder Cup player Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark.
Hill was first reserve for the season-starting event at Abu Dhabi, and now the Gleneagles Hotel player is in the field for his first tournament of 2021.
