He’s 29 under for eight rounds of golf and made 45 birdies and two eagles but Rory McIlroy still believes he’s simply knocked a little rust of his game after the first two starts of the season.

The habit scoring well when you are not playing your best was something that Tiger Woods turned into an art form.

Irish golf  might be struggling somewhat to ease  players onto the main tours, but when we have the world No 2 heading a five-strong posse in Dubai, a multiple major champion and a WGC winner accompanying a stellar rookie in the US, a Walker Cup winner making his pro debut in Australia and a pair of ambitious Munster men doing their thing from Myanmar to Colombia, it’s clearly not all that bad.

Rory McIlroy has won 16 events since Padraig Harrington captured his third major in 2008. In fact, Irish golf has racked up 44 wins on the world’s main professional tours since McIlroy hit the tour full time eight years ago and with more than a third of the wins going to the curly haired wonderkid from Holywood, it’s clear that bar some unforeseen, knock on effect, the result of the legal action against his former management company, which begins in Dublin on Tuesday, is going to be a very small footnote in his career biography.

Rory McIlroy looked certain to go five clear of the field when he went for the 18th in two in the third round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. But after finding water short of the green his up and down to save a par five and remain four ahead of the chasing pack felt almost as good. It also said a lot about McIlroy's ability to churn out a score.

Graeme McDowell made a hugely positive start to the 2015 season when he opened with an immaculate 67 in the Dubai Desert Classic that left him just one stroke adrift of world No 1 Rory McIlroy.

Rory McIlroy used the word "disappointed" four times in his preview interview for the Dubai Desert Classic. Fortunately, he's brilliantly learned how to deal the few misfortunes that have come his way on the golf course in recent years.

Rory McIlroy is clearly back in form despite producing a loose performance with the driver and the green-reading skills of Stevie Wonder in the final round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

Rory McIlroy must come from two shots behind Stephen Gallacher if he's to win the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and his 11th official title as a professional. Can he do it? The statistics will certainly give him hope.

Rory McIlroy leads by one at halfway and insists he doesn’t just hope to win the Omega Dubai Desert Classic from here - he expects to win.

Damien McGrane shot a two under 70 to keep Rory McIroy in his sights in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

Damien McGrane fired a six under par 66 to trail a "sublime" Rory McIlroy by three shots after the opening round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

Rory McIlroy opened with a sensational 63 to Tiger Woods' 68 in Dubai. As Fred Couples said afterwards: "When a guy that talented gets his game back, he will dominate. It is just a matter of for how long and if you can just keep away from people talking about it, you'll do fine."