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The four-times major champion won the event in 2009 and 2015
and has finished in the top 10 in each of his seven previous
visits to the Emirates Golf Club.
"I have great memories of this tournament," McIlroy said in a
news release on Monday. "I made the cut here for the first time
in a European Tour event as a 17-year-old amateur in 2007 and it
was here I secured my first professional win two years later.
"I will always cherish those important moments in the early part
of my career. That first win was a real stepping-stone for me,
helping my confidence and leading to the successes that
followed," said the Northern Irishman.
British Open champion and world number four Henrik Stenson and
U.S. Masters winner Danny Willett, who lifted the Dubai Classic
trophy last year, are also in the field for the Feb. 2-5
tournament.
The Dubai Classic is the last in the tour's three-event Middle
East swing that also includes the Abu Dhabi Championship from
Jan. 19-22 and the Qatar Masters from Jan. 26-29.
(Writing by Tony Jimenez; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
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