Defending champion Aaron Rai offered no advice to World No. 2 Rory McIlroy as they prepared to compete in the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship.

McIlroy is looking to match Colin Montgomerie's eight Race to Dubai titles this year, and he’s looking for his first-ever victory in Abu Dhabi, having accumulated four runner-up and six third-place finishes in the tournament over his career.

Rai won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in November 2025 at Yas Links Abu Dhabi, defeating Tommy Fleetwood on the first playoff hole with a 10-foot birdie putt after both finished at 25-under par.

Asked what advice he would give to McIlroy, Rai was nearly speechless.

“I don't think Rory needs too much advice from any of us playing. He's a phenomenal player, one of the greatest players to ever play this game,” said Rai

“In golf, no matter how well you play, sometimes you need a few things to go your way here and there, and his time will come very, very soon whether it's this year or in future years. No advice to him. But hopefully things kind of fall his way, and I'm sure he'll get one of these very soon.”

McIlroy is attempting to close down the Race to Dubai title with Patrick Reed and Eugenio Chacarra just above him on the leaderboard.

“Golf tournaments are long,” said McIlroy. “There's a long way to go to the finish line, especially in situations like this where it's not just this week, it's next week as well, and you sort of try to -- they're both their own individual tournaments, but you're almost trying to treat it like any other event, just trying to build on each and every day.

“And I felt like I could have got off to a better start today, but as I said, I felt like I saw enough encouraging signs in my game to go in and shoot a good one tomorrow and try to get myself back in the tournament.”

In order to make history and match Montgomerie, McIlroy would have to surpass Reed and Chacarra, as Reed is hoping to become just the second American golfer in history to win the European title.

Only Collin Morikawa has previously won the Race to Dubai and lifted the Harry Vardon Trophy while representing the United States.

“Obviously we were leading for most of the year but the way Eugenio has been playing, amazing golf, not just of late but throughout the whole year. Just one of those things that it really comes down to these last two weeks,” said Reed ahead of the tournament.

“We knew coming in, it was always going to come down to the last two events because of how big the points are. At the end of the day, get a chance to play Sunday and next week to have a chance to play win the whole thing."