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[November 14, 2024]  DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The goals for 2025 are piling up for Rory McIlroy.

Ending his drought in the majors dating back to 2014 is uppermost in his mind. There’s also the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, where McIlroy will be the heartbeat of Europe’s team seeking a rare away win in one of sport's biggest events.

Now add to that his quest to reach the levels set by golf’s top two players at the moment: Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele.

“They certainly separated themselves from the pack this year,” the No. 3-ranked McIlroy said Wednesday in Dubai. “I’m obviously very aware of that, and it only makes me more motivated to try to emulate what they did this year.”

Scheffler won the Masters, and plenty more. Schauffele won the PGA Championship and the British Open. McIlroy could — maybe should — have won the year’s other major, the U.S. Open, only to three-putt two of the last three holes to lose by one shot to Bryson DeChambeau.

So, McIlroy remains on four major titles — he’s been on that number for a decade — and that’s painful for him, even if he is proud of his performances during the rest of a season that could end Sunday at the World Tour Championship with him winning the European tour’s Race to Dubai title.

“Incredibly consistent again,” he said of his 2024. “I think I’ve been really proud of that over the last few years. But then at the same time, you know, thinking about the ones that got away. I could be sitting up here with a fifth major title and I am not.

“So that stings and that’s something that I have to come to terms with, but at the same time I’ve got plenty more opportunities in the future.”

McIlroy goes into the season-ending event on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates with a huge lead in the Race to Dubai standings over second-place Thriston Lawrence, the only other player in contention for the title.

Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, hits out of the seventh fairway during the second round of the Tour Championship golf tournament, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

A top-10 finish in the 50-man field will guarantee McIlroy is the best player in European golf for a sixth time, tying with the late Seve Ballesteros and leaving him two behind Colin Montgomerie’s record haul. Lawrence has to win and needs McIlroy to finish tied for 11th or lower.

The older McIlroy gets — he is 35 now — the more he appreciates being regarded as a standard-bearer on the European tour.

“I probably went a few years not prioritizing it, and I think I might be a little bit closer to Monty that I am now but it’s something that I really wanted,” he said. “It’s a huge honor ... every time that I come back and play on this tour I’m proud to be a member, and I’m proud to support as much as I can.”

For that reason, McIlroy is planning a similar schedule for European tour events in 2025 that he had this year: Start in Dubai, play the Scottish Open, Irish Open, the PGA Championship and the Dunhill Links Championship, and then the season-ending tournaments in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

That means it will be events in the United States taking a hit as McIlroy looks to trim his schedule from 27 to 22 or 23.

“I’m knocking on a little bit — I’ve got the grey hairs to prove it,” he said. “I’m not slowing down at all, but I just have to take care of myself and take care of my body a little bit more.”

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