Rory McIlroy is putting the finishing touches on his historic 2025 season with his first visit back to the Australian Open in 11 years. It’s part of his expanding global playing schedule that’s included dominant performances in the Middle East and the career Grand Slam–winner’s first professional event in India.
“I enjoy the travel,” McIlroy said earlier this month at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. “I enjoy playing in different parts of the world.”
This year alone, McIlroy has already played in eight countries.
Before his Masters victory in April, McIlroy won in the U.S. at Pebble Beach in February, and the Players Championship in March; in September, he won his fourth tournament of the year at the Irish Open in County Kildare, just outside of Dublin; and then led Europe to its first away Ryder Cup victory—at Bethpage Black in New York—since 2012. McIlroy had T3 and second-place finishes at the DP World Tour’s final two events of the season in the United Arab Emirates, and won the seasonlong Race to Dubai competition for the seventh time, which came with a $2 million bonus.
McIlroy has had a lucrative year on the course, but his embrace of golf around the world is even bigger business for the tournaments he tees it up in.
The Australian Open is expecting a 30,000-fan attendance boost (to around 100,000 for the week) when McIlroy headlines the field at Royal Melbourne Golf Club on Dec. 4 through 7. “Everything that was last year has probably multiplied by about 5 or 10 times,” tournament director Antonia Beggs tells Front Office Sports.
That ranges from luxury hospitality sales to media credential requests to volunteer applications. “Everyone wants to be a part of it,” says Beggs, who is also the GM of major events for Golf Australia. That includes Royal Melbourne’s members—about 1,800 of the prestigious club’s roughly 2,300 members have accepted their ticket allocations.
McIlroy last played in the Australian Open in 2014, when he was unable to successfully defend his 2013 title at the tournament. Since then, McIlroy, 36, married his wife Erica Stoll in 2017, became a father in 2020, and is now enjoying taking his family to new and different places.
“Going back to the same place, the same thing 15, 20 years in a row, it can get a little bit monotonous and a little bit tedious,” McIlroy said in September ahead of the BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth, England. He credited a conversation he had with Roger Federer about the joy in playing smaller events in places he hadn’t yet in his career. “As time goes on and I get to this stage of my career, I get excited about doing that sort of thing.”
That philosophy influenced McIlroy’s decision to play in last month’s India Championship in New Delhi, the superstar’s first professional appearance in the country of nearly 1.5 billion people. Before his T26 finish at the tournament, McIlroy said he was excited to play somewhere he never had before: “Eighteen-odd years into a professional career and to still be able to do things for the first time is something that excites me.”
Viewers were also excited to watch McIlroy venture into a new country. For the India event, Sky Sports, the predominant golf broadcaster in the U.K., recorded its largest average viewership for a golf tournament in Asia, excluding the United Arab Emirates.
The U.A.E. has become a particularly important part of McIlroy’s global footprint. He won his first professional tournament at the 2009 Dubai Dessert Classic, and has won seven times total in the U.A.E., making up a large chunk of his 18 career wins outside the U.S. Like what is happening around the Australian Open, when McIlroy commits to a tournament in the Middle East, ticket sales, hospitality revenue, and even a tournament’s strength of field all go up.
McIlroy’s first major sponsor was Jumeirah, a U.A.E.-based luxury hotel chain, which signed the up-and-coming star in 2007 thanks to the efforts of the company’s former chief financial officer, Alaister Murray, who was a member at McIlroy’s Holywood Golf Club in Northern Ireland.
After McIlroy won his first two major championships sporting Jumeirah logos, his deal expired and he signed with Nike for an all-encompassing pact in 2013. But his relationship with golf in the U.A.E has remained strong, even as the price tag for his appearance fees at tournaments—often in the seven-figures—has remained high, too.
“The tournament organizers and promoters definitely feel he’s well worth paying to be part of the tournament,” Dubai Golf CEO Chris May tells FOS. “So, he’s always welcome.”
Most of the non-U.S. events McIlroy plays in are part of the DP World Tour, which held tournaments in 26 countries in 2025 (McIlroy competed in seven of its tournaments across five countries, not including the four major championships, which are counted as DP World Tour events). Formerly known as the European Tour, the circuit has embraced going global, as the PGA Tour continues to focus mostly on the U.S.
“To have one of our sport’s greatest ever players buying into this mission, and interested in playing in key growth markets, is hugely important for our business,” DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings tells FOS. “Rory’s presence gives any tournament recognition and subsequently boosts fan engagement and commercial interest. In his prime, Tiger Woods was an advocate for playing a global schedule, and Rory has taken on that role and is running with it.”
The success of the DP World Tour is important to many top European players, as the European Tour Group parent company operates the European operations of the Ryder Cup, and provides a pathway for players from the continent to qualify for major championships and attempt to qualify for the PGA Tour, if they choose.
McIlroy—who just had a new DP World Tour award named after him—has embraced the responsibility of being a European leader. “I think with the fractured nature of the men’s professional game at the minute, this tour needs all of its stars to step up and play in the big events,” he said in Dubai. “I understand that I am one of those people and I want to do my utmost to help in whatever way that I can.”
As the five-time major championship winner keeps expanding his horizons, the global Rory McIlroy Effect will grow, too. “I don’t think anyone—other than Tiger Woods—moves the dial for bringing golf and non-golf fans in when someone features in the field, and Rory does that,” May says. “He moves the needle.”
