"I would like to go down as the most successful European of all time"- Rory McIlroy's outlines ambitious future plans

Rory McIlroy is one of the most successful golfers with 26 PGA Tour, 17 DP World Tour, and four major championship wins to his name. The Northern Irishman started his career on the European circuit, and hence, he wants to go down as the most successful European golfer of all time.

McIlroy has five Race to Dubai trophies to his name and is just one victory behind Seve Ballesteros, while Colin Montgomerie has the most wins with eight titles. Hence, during the pre-round press conference of the 2024 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, a journalist questioned if that's what motivates him to compete on the European Tour.

"Not necessarily that, even though that would be nice. I pride myself -- I'm a European player. I would like to go down as the 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 ahead of me as well," Rory McIlroy said.

McIlroy believes this goal is quite attainable over the next ten years and said he is very proud to be from Europe and has played on this tour consistently.

"So that's something that I would like to, I think, is a goal that's quite attainable over the next ten years. I'm very proud to be from Europe and have sort of, you know, played on this tour and played on this tour consistently."

McIlroy added he remembers when he got his first money clip after he signed up to be a member of the European Tour. That was a really proud moment for him, and he wishes to continue to do so by competing regularly on the European Tour.

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When will Rory McIlroy tee off in the 2024 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship?

Rory McIlroy at the BMW Championship - Final Round - Source: Imagn

Rory McIlroy is all set to tee off at 9:23 am local time (5:23 am GMT) for the first round of the 2024 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. He is paired with Thriston Lawrence and Rasmus Hojgaard and will play with them for the first two rounds.

Here are the tee times of all golfers competing in the 2024 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship (In GMT).

• 03:17 - Sean Crocker, Adrien Saddier
• 03:28 - Joost Luiten, David Micheluzzi
• 03:39 - Ugo Coussaud, Daniel Brown, Matthew Jordan
• 03:50 - Adrian Otaegui, Darius van Driel, Adrian Meronk
• 04:01 - Adam Scott, Tyrrell Hatton, Matteo Manassero
• 04:12 - Dylan Frittelli, Brandon Stone, Aaron Cockerill
• 04:28 - Jeff Winther, Alejandro Del Rey, Paul Waring
• 04:39 - Frederic Lacroix, Grant Forrest, Joe Dean
• 04:50 - Dan Bradbury, Keita Nakajima, Bernd Wiesberger
• 05:01 - Thorbjørn Olesen, Tom McKibbin, Nicolai Højgaard
• 05:12 - Jesper Svensson, Angel Hidalgo, Matt Wallace
• 05:23 - Rory McIlroy, Thriston Lawrence, Rasmus Højgaard
• 05:44 - Johannes Veerman, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia, Jayden Schaper
• 05:55 - Richard Mansell, Matthew Baldwin, Gavin Green
• 06:06 - Alex Fitzpatrick, Yannik Paul, Shubhankar Sharma
• 06:17 - Antoine Rozner, Ewen Ferguson, Marcel Siem
• 06:28 - Min Woo Lee, Justin Rose, Niklas Nørgaard
• 06:39 - Laurie Canter, David Ravetto, Nacho Elvira
• 06:50 - Julien Guerrier, Jorge Campillo, Thomas Detry
• 07:01 - Connor Syme, Casey Jarvis, Francesco Laporta
• 07:12 - Sam Bairstow, Andy Sullivan, Calum Hill
• 07:23 - Jordan Smith, Romain Langasque, Guido Migliozzi
• 07:34 - Rikuya Hoshino, Sebastian Söderberg, Joaquin Niemann
• 07:50 - Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre, Shane Lowry