Rory McIlroy insists anything less than victory will be a disappointment when he returns to the scene of his maiden European Tour win at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
The World Number One registered his first triumph in this event in 2009, and has since gone on to add four Major Championships in his rise to the pinnacle of the game.
The Northern Irishman’s last six starts on The European Tour read first-first-first-second-second-second, but with the last of those victories coming five months ago at the US PGA Championship, McIlroy is keen to end his runner-up streak this week.
And the chances of doing so with a win appear good at Emirates Golf Club, where since winning McIlroy has recorded four consecutive top-ten finishes.
“It has been [a happy hunting ground] in the past,” said the 25 year old. “I’ve had one win here at the Emirates, but it seems every time I come here I have a chance and I play well.
“It's a great way to start the season. I've done this the last few years, where I've played Abu Dhabi, taken another week off to practice and then come here and played in Dubai.
“I've got four days to try and get back on the victory trail and it feels like a long time since my last win, so it would be nice to get another one pretty soon and start the year off with a victory under my belt.
“I’m disappointed if I don't win to be honest, but I think everyone should feel that way: I don't think that's just me. You come here to try to win events - you're not here to try to finish in the top five.
“I'm very happy with where my game is tee to green, and I have put some good work in over the last week on my short game, which I felt needed a little bit of sharpening up from Abu Dhabi; hopefully I can just keep it going.”
While McIlroy has his sights firmly set on top spot this week, The Ryder Cup star admits he has not done a lot wrong in finishing second in Scotland and Dubai at the end of 2014, and Abu Dhabi a fortnight ago.
“Sometimes you walk away from a week and you're satisfied with the top five because you haven't played that well, so you've done the best out of the week,” he added. “You're still disappointed that you couldn't perform better. I guess that's a benchmark, you're trying to go in there and win every event you do play.
“I'd definitely like to break the runners-up duck the right way rather than the wrong way.
“I'm comfortable on this golf course and I have good memories here, and I seem to play the course very well, so hopefully I can continue to do that this week.
“I think Ollie Wilson did really well to win the Dunhill - I didn't feel like I lost that in any way.
“I was a little disappointed at the DP World Tour Championship - I got a very lucky break on 18 and didn't take advantage of it, didn't make a birdie at the last that would have got me into the play-off. I felt like I could have done better there.
“The week before last in Abu Dhabi, I didn't play well the third day and thought I left myself too much to do, and then Martin [Kaymer] had that bad run of holes and that let a few people back into it, but I don't feel like I lost any in any way.
“I felt like I could have maybe done a better job of coming down the stretch on the back nine at DP World, but apart from that, I feel like I played well the other times.
“It was great to shoot 18 under par for four days [in Abu Dhabi]; I think I hit 89 per cent of the greens. When you're doing that and you're giving yourself so many birdie chances, you would like to think that you would shoot a little bit under par.”
