Rory McIlroy will be out to seal a seventh victory in the Race to Dubai rankings at the year-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai this week. Image courtesy DPWT/Getty Images.
By Rahul Banerji
World number two Rory McIlroy is out to close the the gap with the all-time leader in terms of Race to Dubai wins, currently eight standing in Colin Montgomerie’s name.
The Northern Ireland golfer is currently level with Severiano Ballesteros on six and a solid performance at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai this week will take him a step closer to that goal.
The 2025 Masters winner sets out on Thursday with a 767-point lead over nearest challenger Marco Penge of England in the standings and well placed to win the Harry Vardon Trophy for a fourth year in a row.
If successful, McIlroy would become a seven-time Race to Dubai champion, moving past Ballesteros and closing to within one win of Montgomerie’s record of eight.
With 2,000 points awarded to the winner of the final Rolex Series event of the season at Jumeirah Golf Estates, it is by no means a done deal.
“To move from six to seven titles, to go one past Seve would be amazing. To get one closer to Monty (Montgomerie) would be amazing,” McIlroy said in Dubai on Tuesday.
Natural progression
“But I think when I say I’m not chasing anything, I think if I focus my energy on certain tournaments and try to play well at certain tournaments, then the Race to Dubai almost just sort of takes care of itself.
“Hopefully these season-long awards are something that just come along because you’ve won some big tournaments along the way.
“So yeah, I guess you could say I’m still chasing that, but I think that’s just more a by-product of playing the good golf that I know that I can.”
McIlroy led Penge by 441 points ahead of last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship but extended his lead after finishing in a tie for third place behind Aaron Rai and Tommy Fleetwood.
He wants to keep up the momentum at a tournament he has won three times, including last year.
“I thought last week was overall pretty good. I certainly played really well on the weekend.
“Found myself in a familiar position going into this week, going out last on Thursday, and you know, it will be good to tee it up again alongside Marco. I’m excited for a great week.
“I feel like my game rounded into some really good form at the weekend, and hopefully I can continue that from Thursday on.”
Elite company
McIlroy also saw a new award instituted in his name after becoming Europe’s first winner of the career Grand Slam joining Americans Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, and Gary Player of South Africa on the elite list.
The award will be presented to a member of the DP World Tour who performs the best across all four majors in a season.
McIlroy is the fifth person to have a DP World Tour award named after them and said: “It’s an amazing honour to have my name up there along with Harry Vardon, Sir Henry Cotton, Seve Ballesteros and John Jacobs, that’s very special.”
The Rory McIlroy Award will be introduced for the 2026 season and will go to the player with the most Race to Dubai points earned at the Masters Tournament, US PGA Championship, US Open and The Open.
McIlroy scored an emotional victory in the Masters at Augusta National defeating European Ryder Cup teammate Justin Rose in a play-off to add the Green Jacket to his four previous major titles.
“To have something named after you, that will be presented to future generations of players, is a huge honour and it is very humbling,” McIlroy said on Tuesday.
Fitting end
Meanwhile, Dubai resident Tommy Fleetwood says the Tour Championship would cap a special year for him after finishing second in 2019 and 2023.
Fleetwood won his first PGA Tour title at the FedEx Cup Tour Championship in August, was a key player for Europe in the historic away Ryder Cup victory at Bethpage Black in September and won the DP World India Championship last month.
He also lost to Rai in a title playoff at last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
“This is the last event I’m going to play this year. It has been a great year,” Fleetwood said.
“So yeah, this will be an amazing way to finish, for sure. My whole family are here. Lots of familiar faces, a course that I know well, and I live very, very close.”
Also read: DP World extends deal with Euro Tour, DPWIC will return in 2026
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