Skip to content
DUBAI — It’s been a yo-yo kind of year when it comes to Rory McIlroy and what motivates him. There was always the Masters, of course, that final unchecked box of the Grand Slam prior to April 2025. But after the Masters? McIlroy admitted he fell into motivational lull that seemed to last multiple months.
After that lull came two events he’d long circled on his calendar: his home Open Championship, at Royal Portrush, and an away Ryder Cup. There was no problem getting up for those emotional contests. But now that he’s here, in the 11th month of a jam-packed year, polishing off what he recently called a “10 out of 10” season, the topic of inspiration rose again Thursday evening.
McIlroy had just signed for an opening 66 on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates — just a tick below his recent, stellar average here — when he was prompted with the topic of stamina. He’s in the Middle East now — for the DP World Tour Championship — and he’s headed to London next week. He’ll be on to Australia in early December. Last month he was in India, and before that took part in the most mentally exhausting Ryder Cup he’s ever played. Before that was his three-win, one-crowning-major PGA Tour season. So has this year taken something out of him?
Maybe a little, he admitted. But he added that keeping his mind right and his body right are endlessly connected.
“I was really inspired by what Justin Rose did at Memphis this year,” McIlroy began. “And then what he did at the Ryder Cup. And I look at what he does, you know, to play at this level at 45 years of age. I’d love to be able to say — I hopefully will be able to do the same thing in 10 years’ time.
“I look at him, I look at some of the things that he does. He’s got his own recovery trailer on tour, and he puts a lot of time in to just making sure that his body’s in the right place.”
He sure does. Rose sends that recovery trailer around the U.S. to any event he’s playing, outfitted with a red-light bed, colt and hot tubs, a stationary bike, fresh oxygen masks, a steam shower and infra-red sauna. That Rose cares about his fitness is no anomaly in these days of Strokes Gained: Body Time, but the work has driven results.
