“Lots of ice. Lots of ice baths. Just basically freezing myself to death.” That’s what Tiger Woods said a few years back about coming back from an injury and playing golf. However, things might not have gone the way he planned. Woods is facing injury after injury. While recovering from his Achilles tendon surgery in March 2025, Woods also revealed a lumbar disc replacement surgery in October 2025. This goes to show the impact not only of his accident from February 2021, but the game of golf has had on his body. The World No. 2, Rory McIlroy, is all set to take a completely different route for longevity.

The career grand-slam winner is preparing for his next contest at the Abu Dhabi Championship. Although he is closing in on Colin Montgomerie’s titles, he has played fewer matches this year compared to previous seasons. Rory McIlroy is already 36 years old and plans to cut down on the regular DP World Tour events. This is unlike Tiger Woods, who continued playing as many events as possible even after facing injuries in 2008. Woods had undergone multiple surgeries by 2018. However, in the 2017-2018 season, he still played 18 events. While this passion sounds good, it further added to the toll on his body.

These constant surgeries are why he couldn’t make a successful comeback in professional golf. Next year, he will become eligible for the PGA Tour Champions, too. And while the management is ready to welcome him on the senior circuit, concerns about his health remain.

McIlroy understands this and doesn’t want to end up like Woods. He knows his body needs ample rest to play the game he loves for as long as possible. “Look, I’m not getting any younger. If I want to play competitively for another ten years like Justin Rose has, for example, I have to remember that I’m not 23 anymore and I can’t play that schedule forever. So I think to try to have the longevity that I want to have, I’m going to have to cut back my schedule a little bit over these next few years to make sure I stay injury-free and I play up until the point that I want to,” Rory McIlroy said.

The 29x PGA Tour winner has already made his intentions clear with a reduced schedule in 2025. From playing in 19 events on the PGA Tour in 2024, he participated in only 16 this year. Similarly, he competed in 9 events on the DP World Tour in 2024. However, he played only 5 events, including the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, the Genesis Scottish Open, the Amgen Irish Open, the BMW PGA Championship, and the DP World India Championship.

As far as Rory McIlroy’s intentions go, he will play even fewer events this season. But while he plans to reduce the number of tournaments he plays, his goal for this season will be to clinch his record 8th win in Dubai.

Rory McIlroy’s impressive performances in Dubai

McIlroy has won 7 times in Dubai on the DP World Tour. In fact, his first victory on the tour was at the 2009 Dubai Desert Classic. He fired rounds of 64-68-67-70 to finish at 19 under par and win the title. Since then, he has won the Dubai Desert Classic three times: in 2015, 2023, and 2024. Similar to 2009, he won the 2023 Dubai Desert Classic with 19 under par, while his 2024 victory came with a 14 under par finish, and in 2015, he had a 22 under par finish.

Besides these 4 Dubai Desert Classic titles, he won the DP World Tour Championship three times. He first won in 2012, with rounds of 66-67-66-66. McIlroy successfully ended his Race to Dubai title by winning this event for the second time in 2015. His latest victory in Dubai came in 2024, when he won the title for the third time. For the 2024 DP World Tour Championship title win, he fired rounds of 67-69-68-69 to maintain his 1st position. Rasmus Hojgaard came close but couldn’t race past McIlroy.

This year, the 2025 Masters champion is sitting at the top of the Race to Dubai standings again. With the two Play-Off events remaining, he still faces competition from others like Marco Penge, who is just around 500 points behind Rory McIlroy. Some other contenders on the list are Tyrrell Hatton, Kristoffer Reitan, Adrien Saddier, and Robert MacIntyre.