Rory McIlroy described surpassing Seve Ballesteros with a seventh Race to Dubai title as more than he ever dreamed of, despite losing a play-off to Matt Fitzpatrick in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. McIlroy staged a dramatic late fightback with an eagle at the 72nd hole to force extra holes, but Fitzpatrick prevailed.
The Northern Irishman clinched the season-long crown to eclipse the late Ballesteros’s tally of six and move one behind record-holder Colin Montgomerie. An emotional McIlroy told Sky Sports: “It’s amazing, I had a conversation with Carmen [Ballesteros’s ex-wife] before I went out to play today and she told me how proud he would have been. He means so much to this tour and the European Ryder Cup team. To equal him last year was cool, but to surpass him this year, I didn’t get this far in my dreams, so it’s very cool.”
McIlroy also set his sights on Montgomerie’s record of eight titles, saying: “I want it, of course I do. I was the first European to win the grand slam and I would love to be the European with the most wins in terms of the order of merit and season-long races.”
Fitzpatrick had started the final day among a group of six players one shot behind McIlroy and Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen. McIlroy began the final round in style, moving clear at the top of the leaderboard after going four under through the first seven holes. But as he stumbled, Fitzpatrick birdied the last to complete a bogey-free round of 66, leaving McIlroy and Neergaard-Petersen requiring eagles to force a play-off. While the Dane faltered, McIlroy sank a 15-foot putt to set up the play-off, but Fitzpatrick won after both missed the green with their approach shots.
Fitzpatrick said: “He [McIlroy] is one of only a few where you know you are going to a play-off. You are two clear with one to play and you know you are going to a play-off because he did it again in typical Rory fashion. I struggled at the start of the year, obviously, and to turn it round in the summer like I did, have the Ryder Cup like I did which is hard to top, but the way I played today – there was one bad shot all day. So proud of myself.”
Tommy Fleetwood tied for third place after a final round 67, while Tyrrell Hatton, the only man with a faint hope of denying McIlroy the Race to Dubai title, finished in a share of 14th.
