The European Tour starts 2014 in Abu Dhabi at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club. Golfing World interviews both Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson in the video above about their off season, what they’re looking forward to this year and the state of their games.
Rory McIlroy finished a disappointing 2013 year with back to back top six finishes at the end of the 2013 Race to Dubai and a victory at the Australian Open and is excited as ever to start his 7th year as a golf professional. With most of his legal troubles behind him as well, he will have a lot more time to focus on his golf and as he said, make up for not winning a major in 2013 by aiming to win two in 2014! In six appearances at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Rory has finished outside the top 11 only once and finished runner up twice in 2011 and 2012, so hopefully he’ll play well this week and start 2014 with a tournament victory – he’s already had one win in 2014 though, after successfully proposing to his girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki!
Phil Mickelson is also in the field, playing in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship for the first time. He showed up very excited about his new driver, as Phil usually is about new equipment and equipment changes. Last year, although he raved about the Callaway RAZR Fit Xtreme driver that led him to a victory at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, he struggled late in 2013 to find the right driver and played mainly with his 3-wood. This year, he has put the Big Bertha Alpha driver into his bag and it has lowered his spin rate allowing a more penetrating ball flight through the air. Hopefully, this season with this new driver will help him complete the career grand slam with the US Open at Pinehurst.
You might have also seen the pre-tournament ceremonies as well featuring both Rory and Phil. You’ll see a glance of it in the video above, but for the full ceremony, you can view it below! Whether you actually want to watch it though is up to you!
Source: Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship
