Rory McIlroy may not have had the conclusion to the DP World Tour campaign that he was hoping for, but he could at least settle for second prize on the week and first prize in the season-long race as his runner-up finish secured a seventh Harry Vardon Trophy as the leading player in the Race to Dubai.
His tally now surpasses that of Severiano Ballesteros, and leaves him just one behind Colin Montgomerie’s haul of eight, and he admitted that it was a special moment to move ahead of the legendary Spaniard whose influence is still felt on the DP World Tour to this day.
“I had a conversation with his wife, Carmen, before I went out to play today, and she told me how proud he would have been,” McIlroy told Sky Sports’ Tim Barter, fighting tears when he was asked about Seve after the round.
“I said this on this green last year to you, he means so much to this tour and to the European Ryder Cup team, and we rally so much around his spirit and his quotes and everything he meant for European golf, and to equal him last year was cool, but to surpass him this year – yeah, I didn’t get this far in my dreams, so it’s it’s very cool.”
McIlroy will now go into the 2026 DP World Tour season seeking a fifth successive Race to Dubai title and drawing level with Montgomerie and he admitted that it’s high on his list of priorities
“I want it, of course I do,” he said. “When you get that close, and you know, I caught up with Monty this week; he was here a couple of days ago and I saw him. Yeah, look, it seems within touching distance now and I would love to. I was the first European to win the Grand Slam, and I’d love to be the winningest European in terms of Order of Merits and season-long races, and I’ve hopefully got a few more good years left in me, and hopefully I can catch him and surpass him.”
It was a slightly bittersweet end to the week, however, as McIlroy fell to Matt Fitzpatrick in a playoff after once again pulling a rabbit from the hat and eagling the 72nd hole to force the tournament into extra holes.
But it was a tournament that was very much in McIlroy’s grasp before a sticky patch on the back nine.
“Yeah, I got off to the perfect start, you know,” he said. “I was three-under through five, four-under through seven, and I felt like I’d sort of taken control of the golf tournament, was a couple ahead, and then I made two bogeys on the way in on 12 and 16, and I didn’t birdie 14 and 15, the birdie holes, and, obviously knew I needed something to happen on the last.
“I actually hit a great shot on 17, came up a little short and hit a great putt that lipped out, but yeah, the last, look, I knew what I needed to do.
“I hit a great 5-wood, lucky to see Rasmus’s [Neergaard-Petersen] putt before mine, so he sort of hung out to the right a little bit before it started to turn, so I got a bit of a read from him, and yeah, look, great way to finish.
“It was nice to be able to summon what I needed to make the playoff, but, yeah, unfortunately hitting it in the water there on 18 in the playoff just sort of put me behind the 8-ball, but you know, [I’m] happy for Matt.
“He’s had a great end to the season, you know, played great to get on the Ryder Cup team, and then he’s sort of kept it going since, so really happy for him as well.”
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