DUBAI, U.A.E. — For Rory McIlroy, the eve of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship has long been a time of reflection, a chance to look back and project forward amid the madness of life on the road, off the tee and in the air. And this year is no different. On the verge of what will likely be a sixth Race to Dubai title (formerly the Order of Merit), the 35-year-old was in a philosophical mood during a pre-tournament media session.

“This is a nice time to come here, on the cusp of doing something that, to me, is still pretty meaningful, just thinking about the last 10 or 11 months,” he said. “You don’t think about it during the year because you’re just going from week-to-week and trying to do your best at every tournament. But when you get to the business end of things, you start to realize I’ve put together a body of work I’m pretty proud of, even if it hasn’t culminated in some of the things that I wanted to achieve. But it’s still been an incredibly consistent year. And if I were to win the Race to Dubai for a sixth time, that would be a really cool achievement for me.”

McIlroy speaks the truth, certainly as far as the DP World Tour is concerned. His level of performance has been outstanding. So far, he’s earned 4,997.66 Race to Dubai points in his 11 starts and has a 1,785.02-point advantage over Thriston Lawrence, the only man in the 50-strong field who has the ability to overtake the Northern Irishman. That formula is both simple and complicated. Lawrence must add the 2,000 points he would gain by winning this week over the Earth Course at the Jumeirah Estates and have McIlroy finish lower than 11th.

Assuming Lawrence does claim what would be his fifth career DP World Tour victory, chances are McIlroy will do enough to maintain his distance at the top of the rankings. In 13 previous appearances and 52 rounds in this event on this course, he has broken par 45 times. And only five times has McIlroy posted a score exceeding the par of 72. Translated, he has two wins (2012 and 2015), seven other top-six finishes and is a cumulative 179 under par. It’s safe to say that the Greg Norman-design suits McIlroy’s eye, even if any mention of the LIV Golf CEO’s name is typically enough to provoke a negative reaction.

“I like the aesthetic of the sort of splashed up-white bunkers here,” he said. “I feel like it provides a lot of definition, and you can see what shots you want to hit. I’m not going to give it too much credit because of who the course designer is (laughter), but it’s a course I have always enjoyed playing.”

All of which only adds to the impression that this is a race almost over, albeit the agonizing losses McIlroy has endured this year might just place a little doubt in the mind of the four-time major champion. Not that there was any sign of either indecision or complacency in his assessment of a season well-played.

“I’ve prided myself on my consistency throughout my career but especially over the last few years,” he said. “I feel like every time I show up to a tournament, if I’m not winning, I’m close to winning. Sometimes that can get criticized because people think maybe I don’t win as much as I should. But it’s very competitive out here. I feel like I have a pretty high win percentage compared to my peers. So it’s been a consistent few years. The only thing missing is a couple more wins.”

As for the longer-term future, McIlroy went on to add some detail to his earlier admission that 2025 will see him play less often than he has in the past. In that conclusion there was some positive news for the DP World Tour and a not-so happy message for fans of the PGA Tour.

“I’m not going to miss the events in the Middle East,” McIlroy said. “I’m not going to miss the BMW PGA at Wentworth. I’m not going to miss the Irish Open. I’m not going to miss the Scottish Open. But there were a few events in America this year that are not typically on my schedule. That’s where I’m going to have to trim a little bit.

“I have to remember I’m 35 now and not 23,” he went on. “I have a few grey hairs to prove that. I’ve been on tour for 17 years. It’s not that I’m slowing down, but I do have to take care of myself and my body a bit more. I played 27 events this year and that’s maybe a touch too many. If I can get down to 22 or 23, that can only be good for me in the long run.”

McIlroy’s chances of winning a sixth career Race to Dubai title look good as he competes on a course where he’s won twice before and had seven other top-six finishes.

Mateo Villalba

All of which seems like a logical response to the inexorable progress of the ageing process. For most tour players the arrival of their mid-40s tends to be something of a competitive black hole. Too old to be competitive against a new generation that is inevitably bigger, younger and stronger, and too young to join the senior circuit, the vast majority are soon enough neither one thing or the other.

Well aware of that almost immutable law of tournament golf and the fact that, having started so young, McIlroy probably has a few more miles on the clock than most, taking something of a break right now would seem to make sense.

“I feel stronger and better and less injured than I did 10 years ago,” he said. “But I still have to remember that I am 10 years older than I was at 25. I’m taking a long-term view really. Let’s say I have 10 more years at the top, until I’m 45. Averaging 22 [starts] a year, that’s 220 more tournaments. That’s still a lot of golf. I don’t want to say I’m thinking about my mortality as a golfer. But if I have that decade, I don’t want to jeopardize the last five of that 10 years because I played too much now. I’m pacing myself and thinking about how I’m going to feel when I’m 42. I want to feel better then than I would if I didn’t do what I’m going to do now.”

Indeed. Less really can be more.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com