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Career Grand Slam winner and Ryder Cup hero Rory McIlroy will return to Dubai Creek Resort from 15–18 January 2026 to kick off the year at the Dubai Invitational.
The World Number Two was edged out by Dubai resident and fellow Ryder Cup teammate Tommy Fleetwood at the inaugural edition in 2024 at Dubai Creek Resort, as he will be looking to go one better this January.
According to the 20-time DP World Tour winner’s website, the Ulsterman’s upcoming tournament schedule shows that, after finishing the 2025 calendar year at the Australian Open, McIlroy is then set to play in the $2.75 million Dubai Invitational, hosted by his close friend Abdulla Al Naboodah.
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The Dubai Invitational is the opening event of the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai’s International Swing. The tournament is played alongside a three-day Pro-Am team format before a professionals-only Sunday, the biannual event features 60 DP World Tour professionals and 60 amateurs.
This announcement also confirms that, as usual, he will spend back-to-back weeks at DP World Tour events in the United Arab Emirates to start 2026.
He is also confirmed to play the following week in the Middle East’s longest-running golf tournament, the Hero Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club—an event he has won four times previously and one that will mark 20 years since his first appearance as an amateur in 2006.
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Main Image: Warren Little
