Rory McIlroy 'really inspired' by Justin Rose in drive for longevity
Rory McIlroy is using Justin Rose as inspiration in his bid to still be winning big events and playing in the Ryder Cup in 10 years’ time.
Rose made his seventh Ryder Cup appearance at the age of 45 this year, producing one of the best performances of the week at Bethpage Black alongside Tommy Fleetwood in the second-day fourballs as Europe retained the trophy in New York.
The eye-catching effort capped a great year for the Englishman, who came storming through the field in the final round before losing in a play-off to McIlroy in The Masters before landing a 12th PGA Tour title in the FedEx St Jude Championship.
At 36, McIlroy still has plenty left in his engine but, at the same time, he has one eye on trying to make sure that he can have the same longevity as Rose as far as a career at the top level of the game is concerned.
“A little bit,” he replied to being asked in Dubai - where he is competing in this week’s DP World Tour Championship - if he had to change energy or stamina control this season, having become just the sixth player to complete a career grand slam.
“Look, I was really inspired by what Justin Rose did at Memphis this year and then what he did at the Ryder Cup.
"And I look at what he does to play at this level at 45 years of age and I would love to be able to say I will hopefully be able to do the same thing in 10 years’ time.
“You know, I look at him and some of the things he does.
"He’s got his own recovery trailer on tour and he puts a lot of time into just making sure his body is in the right place.
“I think if I want to play another ten years at the highest level, then, yeah, I am going to have to scale back my schedule. It’s a weird one. I want to play less every year to play more in the future.
“So, yeah, I am having to scale back a little bit. I played 27 events last year, I think, which is my most in ten years. I think it’s 25 this year and I think as the years go on I am going to try and pare it back to about 20 or try to get as close to 20 as possible.
“The only reason is to look to the future and for when I am Justin Rose’s age, I want to have the game and the stamina to play the way he is playing at that age.”
For the first time in competitive play, McIlroy used a new TaylorMade Qi4D driver in last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links, where he finished third in the first of the DP World Tour’s two Play-Off events.
It’s in the bag again for the season finale and he admitted: “It’s been great. I hit a couple of not great drives in the first round here, but I feel that was more me than the driver. Overall, I’ve played five competitive rounds with it and it has been really, really good.
“I obviously didn’t get into the Qi35.
"I just couldn’t find one that I got 100 per cent comfortable with and, even the driver I had been using post-Quail Hollow (in this year’s PGA Championship) after my one failed there, felt okay but not as good as the one previously.
“So this one feels as good as a driver as I’ve had in a long time and it’s nice to have that comfort.
"And it’s also nice to have it this early going into next year as it’s just one less thing to think about.
"You know, my bag set up is sort of there and I can roll straight into January and not have to worry about it.”