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Rory McIlroy has revealed his “clear head” after stepping away from golf politics has been key to his personal happiness - and his Grand Slam glory. The world No.2 will this week bid to crown his memorable year by retaining the DP World Tour Championships and winning a seventh Race to Dubai. The Ulsterman, 36, won the Masters in April, his Irish Open in a playoff in July and then led Europe to an away Ryder Cup win. Speaking before the final event of the season, the Ulsterman was asked if this is the happiest he has been for a long time. “Yeah, I think it is.” McIlroy had described winning his fourth different Major in April as “climbing his Everest” as he pondered new goals. But the father of five-year-old Poppy insisted: “I don't think my desire's gone. It's certainly not gone. But I think it's just going one of those things where I'm not going to have to pick and choose where to sort of place my desire and what I want my goals to be. “I'm certainly not less driven but maybe just more driven in focused areas. I don't feel like chasing as much anymore. I'm not out chasing the Grand Slam. I'm not chasing these things. I'm very content with what I've done in the game. I'm still driven to do more but it's sort of a pinpoint to drive in certain directions. “I have a clear head and I'm out of all the political stuff in golf, basically, and I can just focus on playing and playing where I want to and making myself competitively happy by playing in the tournaments that I want to play. “And then having more time to make myself personally happy with doing the things I want to do away from golf, travelling with my family and showing my daughter different parts of the world and doing things like that I think is a very nice place to be in life.” McIlroy was vocal in his condemnation of LIV Golf and was stunned by the June 2023 ceasefire which has still not yielded a permanent deal. He resigned from the PGA Tour's Policy Board in November 2023. He still offers his opinions - and he claimed last week that the Saudi-backed league switching to 72-hole events was a “peculiar move”. But McIlroy added: “Look, I opine on the politics of the game but that doesn't mean that I'm involved. I think stepping away from that stuff and not being intimately involved, it's definitely made me happier from a golfing perspective. “When I was on the board, I read the board materials. I was clued in. I talked to people. I got different opinions. At that point, that was something that I really wanted to do but at the same time I felt like it was taking away from some of the other things I want to do in my life. “You can't keep all the plates spinning at the same time and something had to give, and that was the thing that ultimately I had to stop doing to pursue some of these other things. “If you look at my golf since then, it's been a pretty good run. Maybe a bit of a clearer head and a little bit more time to spend on practise and putting that into my game. Everything in my life is in a good spot and I'm very grateful for that.”
