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Rory McIlroy gave himself an eight out of 10 for the 2024 season which promised a lot but only delivered two titles, but on a Dubai course where he always brought his A-game, things can improve a lot on Sunday .
Only one player in the field – Thriston Lawrence – has enough points to prevent the world number three from winning a sixth DP World Tour Order of Merit crown to tie Spanish legend Seve Ballesteros and move closer to the all-time record Colin Montgomerie’s time of eight. .
However, the South African’s only chance is to win the title and hope McIlroy finishes tied for 11th or worse.
McIlroy leads Lawrence with 1,785.02 points after finishing tied for third last week in Abu Dhabi.
The winner of the season-ending $10 million DP World Tour Championship receives 2,000 points and the runner-up 1,335 points.
However, McIlroy rules the Greg Norman-designed land course with an iron fist.
He may have only won twice in 13 starts, but he has a total of 179 under par in 13 starts (3.44 under par in each round), with two wins in 2012 and 2015 and seven others top-six rankings.
In the 56 rounds he played on the course, he shot only four rounds over par.
Only one player has a better record than McIlroy on this course – Jon Rahm – and he’s not on the field.
McIlroy said he was aiming to win the tournament for the third time and not share the 18th green on Sunday with any other players.
– Consistent, but no majors –
Last year, he had already won the Order of Merit before Dubai and had a lackluster outing, finishing tied for 22nd, his worst result in the tournament. Dane Nicolai Hojgaard won the biggest prize of the DP World Tour.
“I think it’s a great time to reflect on the year that you’re coming here and you’re about to do something that, to me, is still pretty significant, and just thinking about the whole work that you have done over this year over the last 10 or 11 months,” said McIlroy, who won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club in January this year.
“When you get to the end of the business, at the end of the year, you start to realize that at least I had a year that I’m quite proud of, even if it didn’t achieve certain things. that I wanted to achieve.”
McIlroy failed to increase the number of major tournaments under his belt, which is why he said his season was just a blip.
He said he had been “incredibly consistent”, but “thinking about the ones who made it through. I could be sitting here with a fifth major title and I’m not. So it stings and it “It’s something I have to accept.” .
“You have two guys at the top of the world rankings with Xander (Schauffele) who has won two majors and Scottie (Scheffler) who has won a Masters, a Players and the Olympics.
“They certainly separated themselves from the pack this year. I’m very aware of that, and it only motivates me more to try and emulate what they did this year.”
Lawrence has his own score to settle with the course. He made three birdies in his final three holes Sunday at last year’s DP World Tour Championship, but that fell horribly short in his effort to secure one of the 10 PGA Tour cards on offer.
At least he won’t have to worry about that since he’s guaranteed to be in the top 10 regardless of his ranking this week.
“It’s good to have a chance. It will take a lot. I need to win and Rory will probably have to finish outside the top 10,” said the 27-year-old world number 47, who has five finalists this year . season.
“Rory has been an idol of mine since I was young and to be able to land him this week would be the icing on the cake for me.
“Knowing that I already have my PGA Tour card is a great feeling. It was one of my main goals all year. I always wanted to play in America.”
Only the top 50 players from the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai season qualify for the DP World Tour Championship.
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