"I'm liking my chances going into the weekend" - Rory McIlroy confident on DP World Tour Championship victory

Rory McIlroy is heading into the penultimate round of the 2024 DP World Tour Championship tied for second place. He shares the position with LIV Golf star Tyrrell Hatton with a score of eight under par through two rounds.

With Frenchman Antoine Rozner in the lead by a one-stroke margin, McIlroy believes that he has what it takes to win and go home with a grand cheque worth $3M and 2,000 Race to Dubai points.

During the post-round press conference, the Northern Irishman said:

"I need to do a better job of hitting the fairways. I did for the first few holes, and then I let it slip a bit. I started to miss the driver a bit left in the middle of the round. So tried to sort of straighten that out, and again, if I can hit fairways out here, then the greens are very receptive and you give yourself plenty of chances."

"But yeah, look, I'm so comfortable around this place and I've had success before. So I'm liking my chances going into the weekend," he added.

McIlroy carded in an opening round score of an impressive five under par 67. On the second day, he started off well with three birdies in the first four holes. However, as the round progressed, he began missing some shots on the left and recorded bogeys on the par four eighth and tenth holes.

The 456-yard-long eighth hole saw the Olympian miss the green to the left from 172 yards out. Faced with a less than ten-yard-long chip, McIlroy stuck it to seven feet from the fin and failed to make an up and down to save for par.

On the tenth hole, the PGA Tour superstar's tee shot found the native area to the left of the hole. He made it onto the green with his third shot and was left with a tricky 28 feet and 8-inch putt for par. McIlroy tapped in to save for a bogey.

He will tee up the third round of the 2024 DP World Tour Championship with Antoine Rozner at 12:35 PM local time.

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Rory McIlroy's take on Ryder Cup prestige

Earlier this week, a report from the Telegraph cited that the PGA of America would dash out $400,000 to each of their players for taking part in the Ryder Cup. As a seven time Ryder Cup star, Rory McIlroy was left shocked.

He told BBC that he would reverse the roles and pay $400,000 himself to be able to gain the honor of playing for Team Europe. He said (via Golf Magic):

"The two purest forms of competition in our game right now are the Ryder Cup and the Olympics, and it's partly because of that, the purity of no money being involved. I don't think any of the 24 players on either team needs that $400,000. Every two years, there are 104 weeks and 103 weeks you can play golf and get paid."

Several times in the past, McIlroy has claimed that the Ryder Cup is the most prestigious tournament in all of golf's history due to the absence of a paycheck.