Dubai was a good week and I must admit that it was quite a nice feeling to be defending champion, especially in a place which I really love. I started well with a 68 on the first day and got myself into the tournament right away and then I struggled over the weekend, and left Dubai on Sunday evening feeling pretty disappointed. I felt that I didn’t really put enough pressure on the leaders on Sunday at the start of the round and ended up in 6^th place. The last day was really tough and even the leaders were even par and I shot one over so in comparison it wasn’t that bad but for some reason I just couldn’t get any momentum going so I guess it was just one of those day, as they say. But hopefully I’ll have many more chances to defend titles and make a better job of them in the future.

As you’ve all probably seen from the images on the website I went for a trip in the Jumeirah Hot Air Balloon which, I have to say, was quite an experience! To be honest I was a bit scared at first but started to enjoy it – then it came to the landing which I expected to be nice and soft – I was very wrong  - it was actually a bumpy one! The photos from it were fantastic and it’s great that Jumeirah received such great coverage of the trip. Speaking of Jumeirah, I’d just like to say that I’m really happy that our association is carrying on for another three years, it’s such a great partnership so it’s great that it’s going to continue.

There’s been a lot of stuff in the media this week about my back problems. I really didn’t want to make this an excuse for not doing better in Dubai but it did affect me slightly on the course but I was able to hit the ball ok so it shouldn’t be an excuse. It started hurting me a bit in the middle of the week and then by Saturday and Sunday it wasn’t great and I had my lower back strapped up whilst I was playing and I also had about two hours of physio on it every day. So when I returned home on Monday I had an MRI scan done in the evening and luckily things weren’t as bad as we first thought. There was a little bit of a stress change on the facet joints, and although you can’t see it on an MRI scan, one of the ligaments in the lower back is slightly strained but apart from that there was a bit of fluid that had collected around the joints and that was making it a little sore. So I’ve rested up these past few days and done all the exercises that I was given to do and it’s definitely getting better and I’m going to hit a few balls tomorrow morning.

I’ve been enjoying time at home this week but have been really busy. On Monday morning I got straight off the plane and went into Dublin because one of my sponsors, FL Partners who own The Racing Post, were launching the Irish edition of The Racing Post. So I went along to help them out a little bit and did a few interviews and photos which was good fun.

On Tuesday night I had a night out with Holly, Darren Cave and Niall O’Connor (who both play for Ulster Rugby team) in Belfast and went for a great Japanese meal in Zen. And then yesterday Darren and Niall were doing a bit of kicking practice with their coach so I went along with them – I even got the boots on and did a few kicks myself which was really good fun – I was a bit tentative about having a go with my recent back problems but I’m really pleased to say there was no pain at all so that’s a really positive sign. After the kicking escapades we then went to fill our boots at Nando’s which was awesome as always!

I’ve also been catching up on 24 which started a few weeks ago and now that I’ve caught up the next episode is on Sunday when I’m flying to America so I need to get my Slingbox set up so I can watch it when I’m away.

The jet lag’s kicked in a bit now and I was in bed for 9.30 last night and had a really good sleep which was great. So I was up early this morning waiting for the Tesco’s delivery man to come by with the groceries and then we had a company in cleaning the sofas and rugs in the house – so it’s been a day of household chores followed by a nice lunch with Holly.

The dogs, Gus and Theo are in great shape a both really enjoying each other’s company and they’re looking very good at the moment. Yours truly here took them to the dog grooming parlour the other day so Theo’s looking more like a Labradoodle then a Wolfhound now and little Gus had his nail trimmed.

I’m looking forward to my first WGC of the year in Arizona – I love the course there and also love the match play format which I played so much of when I was growing up. Match play’s a funny one because one day you can sneak a win by shooting one or two under par and win and another day you can be five under and get beaten! In matches I like to try and get up early so it puts a bit of pressure on the opponent. I did well there last year and am hoping to do even better this time around.

I’ll catch up with you all again soon, thanks for reading!  Rory.