‘It’s been difficult’: Rory McIlroy talks about dad Gerry’s double lung transplant
Record-equalling Race to Dubai champion opens up on ‘biggest supporter’ being in hospital in US
Rory McIlroy opened up on a “difficult” time in his life due to his dad Gerry undergoing a double lung transplant after equalling Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight Race to Dubai titles.
The back-to-back Masters champion became emotional in a Sky Sports Golf interview soon after claiming the crown for an eighth time following a dramatic last-day battle in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
It was the first time McIlroy had spoken about Gerry still being in hospital in the US after undergoing surgery in September and he provided more information in his post-event press conference at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
“Yeah, my dad - hopefully everyone's dad in this room - is a massive part of my life, and has been my biggest supporter,” said the world No 2 after pipping Spaniard Eugenio Chacarra in the Race to Dubai title race.
“He’s the one that got me into the game and the one that told me to follow my dreams and never give up and never think that you're not good enough or you're not big enough.
“Yeah, it's obviously been difficult. I mean, he's been living with this for a while, for 18 months, and it got to the point where the last resort was he needed a transplant. So he had a double-lung transplant in September. Thankfully, the operation was a success and he's recovering well.
“Yeah, it's been a stressful time for our family. I've been up in Cleveland a lot because that's where he is. I didn't know if I was going to go to India because I spent nine days in the ICU with him while he was recovering.
“You know, if things were not looking as good as they were, I probably wouldn't have felt comfortable travelling or being too far away.
“But he's got an amazing team up there, and the doctors and nurses are absolutely incredible. So I felt comfortable going to India and travelling and knowing that I could obviously get back to him if I needed to, but he was obviously in wonderful hands.
“Yeah, he's been making a really steady recovery. I went up to see him before I left for Abu Dhabi a couple of weeks ago, and he said to me, ‘Rors, go and win me The Race to Dubai’.
“So that was in my head for the last two weeks, and I really wanted to do it for him and I know he's in hospital in his hospital bed, and he would have been watching this morning. It was nice to be able to get it done for him.”
McIlroy has now won the Race to Dubai title five years in a row, with Montgomerie’s incredible streak of claiming the crown seven years on the trot next in his sights.
“I think that's certainly a big incentive,” he said. “Next year is going to be tough because you've got the likes of Jon [Rahm] and Tyrrell [Hatton] and some of these guys coming back and playing a full-time DP World Tour schedule.
“Obviously I'll be sort of bouncing around a little bit on both the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour. So I think The Race to Dubai next year is going to be incredibly competitive.
“Yeah, I reckon it's going to be a little more difficult. Not that it's not difficult every year, but it will be even more difficult next year with those guys playing a full-time schedule over here.
“I'll just have to go out there and play well and accumulate points early. You know, if I have to beef up my schedule at the end of next year to try to compete with them, if I'm in with a close enough chance of doing it, I'll do that.”
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