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Rory McIlroy officially kicked off his 2024 season with an appearance at the Dubai Invitational, a tournament on the DP World Tour. The golfer showed up on tour and came close to an opening victory but fell a little bit short. Nevertheless, it was a solid opener for the World No. 2 golfer.
McIlroy wrote on X (formerly Twitter) about his performance:
"Always enjoy starting my year in Dubai. An overall positive week, just a few things to tidy up but pleased with my game. A big thank you to Dubai for hosting an incredible tournament. Your hospitality sets the bar. And congratulations Tommy Fleetwood on the win!"
After shooting four under in the final round, McIlroy was unable to make up the ground he faced against Tommy Fleetwood, who also shot four under. For the weekend, McIlroy was 18 under par and Fleetwood was just a single stroke better.
McIlroy tied with Thriston Lawrence for the second overall placement, while coming in just ahead of Francesco Molinari, Yannik Paul, Adrian Meronk and many other talented DP World players.
Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood discuss tight finish
Rory McIlroy stumbled at a key part of the tournament, otherwise he might've been able to grab a victory to open 2024. Unfortunately, he missed out and had to settle for second place.
He said via ESPN:
"First week back out, I think you're going to expect some of those sloppy mistakes. Unfortunately for me, those mistakes came at the wrong time today."
Fleetwood said it was "special" to be able to play against McIlroy, who ordinarily operates on the PGA Tour and not the DP World Tour:
"It's always very special when you play with one of your friends, one of the best players in the world, challenging yourself against those guys. Rory's been a very, very supportive influence on me over the past. ... I've watched him do amazing things down the stretch in golf tournaments, and today was my turn."
He also admitted that he's had plenty of tournaments that ended how things ended for the Irishman, in frustrating defeat after a key miss:
"Plenty of times where somebody has finished well against me when I've not quite done enough, and today was my turn to walk through the door today. It was just one of those things."
Fleetwood continued:
"You learn every time you play, good, bad, whatever it is, you always should learn every time you play. The more you put yourself in these positions, you keep figuring out who you want to be as a player when you're out there, what attitude you want to have, how you want to play, and just work toward that, and today was a good day for me."
McIlroy will return to action soon and hope to put the sloppy miscues behind him and continue his quest for victories in 2024, perhaps including putting an end to his Major drought.
