Rory: ‘I’m someone that doesn't want to damage the environment’

We’re lucky to have Rory McIlroy in the game; he’s talented, thoughtful and genuine and, if you ask him a question, he’ll give you his best answer. At the start of the week in Dubai McIlroy was asked about the recent climate change conference and how, via his private jets and the like, he views his global footprint.

“Two years ago, after I won in China, I flew back home privately, and it was just me on the plane. And I just got this massive sense of guilt come over me just because this can't be good. So we ended up reaching out to the GEO Foundation who do a lot of great sustainability things in golf, and that was the only sort of organisation that we knew of that I guess could help us go in the right direction. I wouldn't self-profess to be an eco warrior, but I'm someone that doesn't want to damage the environment anyway, so how can I make my travel around the world neutral, how can I neutralise what I do?

And they came up with a few different ways that I can do that. So on top of what I pay to fly private, I pay quite a bit more on top of that to make sure I'm carbon neutral by the end of the year.”

While a number of his peers have more than just one eye on the money McIlroy is in the game for the good stuff, the titles and the history, and he has an equally well-balanced view of the world as a whole.

“It’s something that I have a conscience about and I take it seriously, especially when you see some of these weather events that are happening. And I live in a part of the world where hurricanes are very prevalent and becoming more and more prevalent. I think we can all play our part in some way or another.

"We play on big pieces of land that take up a lot of water and a lot of other things that could maybe be put to better use some could argue. But at the end of the day, we decide to be professional golfers and hit a ball around a course. And I guess that's sort of the extent of it.”