Rory McIlroy held off Rasmus Højgaard to win the DP World Tour Championship by two photographs, sealing his sixth Race to Dubai crown within the course of.
The pair produced one other tight ultimate spherical encounter at Jumeirah Golf Estates following their again 9 battle at he Irish Open in September.
It was Højgaard who got here out on high on that event, however McIlroy took the spoils this time, pulling clear with an impressive strategy to arrange a faucet in birdie on 16 and ending his season with a closing birdie on 18.
McIlroy’s three below par ultimate spherical 69 clinched his third victory within the DP World Tour Championship, having beforehand gained the title in 2012 and 2015.
On each these events he additionally gained the Race to Dubai crown and he completed the season because the DP World Tour’s no.1 participant for a sixth time total, matching the feat of the Seve Ballesteros, with Colin Montgomerie’s file of eight now in his sights.
South African Thriston Lawrence was the one participant initially of the week who may have prevented McIlroy from profitable the Race to Dubai, however he completed the match in a share of thirtieth place on one below par, 14 photographs behind McIlroy profitable whole of 15 below.
As an alternative, McIlroy’s essential problem got here within the match from Højgaard, who was trying to comply with within the footsteps of his twin brother Nicolai, who gained the DP World Tour Championship 12 months in the past.
After bogeying the primary gap, Højgaard birdied the second and seventh holes and joined McIlroy on the high of the leaderboard when the person from Northern Eire dropped photographs on the ninth and thirteenth holes.
Whereas McIlroy birdied two of the ultimate three holes, Højgaard couldn’t choose up any additional photographs on the best way in, closing out his spherical of 71 with 11 straight pars to complete runner up on 13 below par. That was sufficient to maneuver him previous Lawrence into second place within the ultimate Race to Dubai rankings although, which means he claimed the primary of the ten PGA TOUR playing cards on provide, having missed out by one spot final 12 months.
The opposite 9 gamers to safe twin membership on the PGA TOUR are: Lawrence (third on the Race to Dubai), Paul Waring (fifth), Jesper Svensson (tenth), Niklas Norgaard (eleventh), Matteo Manassero (twelfth), Thorbjørn Olesen (thirteenth), Antoine Rozner (fifteenth), Rikyua Hoshino (sixteenth) and Tom McKibbin (18th).
For McIlroy although, it was a becoming method to finish a season throughout which he has gained 4 instances worldwide, together with twice on the DP World Tour in Dubai, having additionally triumphed within the Hero Dubai Desert Traditional in January.
The four-time Main Champion’s consistency this season is underlined by his file of eight top-five finishes in 12 DP World Tour appearances in 2024, ending runner 4 instances, within the Dubai Invitational, US Open, Amgen Irish Open and the BMW PGA Championship.
McIlroy stated: “It means rather a lot. I’ve been by way of rather a lot this 12 months professionally and personally. It feels just like the becoming finish to 2024. I’ve persevered this 12 months. I’ve had shut calls and wasn’t capable of get it completed at various massive tournaments, so to have the ability to get this one over the road is massively necessary.”
“It’s actually cool to win a sixth Race to Dubai title. I believe everybody is aware of what Seve means to European golf and to Ryder Cup gamers. Within the European Ryder Cup locker room, all we have now are quotes of Seve. We had a altering room with Seve’s shirt from ’95, the final Ryder Cup he performed. He means a lot to European golf and for me to be talked about in the identical breath, I’m very proud.”
