Rory McIlroy is drawing on past success at the Earth course as he bids to match Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight Race to Dubai titles at this week’s DP World Tour Championship.
Chasing a fifth successive season-long crown, McIlroy arrives at Jumeirah Golf Estates having narrowed the gap on leader Eugenio Chacarra with a third-place finish at last week’s Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship.
McIlroy has had another year to remember, capturing a second successive Green Jacket at the Masters in April and recording multiple top-ten finishes, including a runner-up finish at the BMW PGA Championship.
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Now returning to a venue where he boasts three victories – the latest in 2024 – and ten other top tens in 15 previous starts, the World Number Two will have a chance at making more history here, currently sitting 533.93 points behind Chacarra.
While the Northern Irishman will likely need at least a top-four finish and other results to go his way to claim an eighth title, his record at the Earth course means he comes in with confidence about his chances in this position.
Last week’s winner Jon Rahm catapulted himself into Race to Dubai contention once again with his record sixth Rolex Series title in Abu Dhabi.
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The Spaniard, who took the European Number One crown in 2019, also has an enviable record over the Earth Course with three victories, a tied fourth and tied fifth place finish in his five previous appearances.
The two-time Major winner now enters the season-ending event in sixth place in the rankings, knowing that another win in Dubai could be enough to get his hands on the Harry Vardon trophy for the second time.
Patrick Reed is aiming to finish the season as he started, with victory in Dubai. Currently sitting third in the Rankings, Reed kick-started his bid to become just the second American to take the season-long honours with his maiden Rolex Series victory at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January.
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Reed is aiming to go one better than his second place Race to Dubai finish in 2018 – the year he claimed the Masters title – and the five-time DP World Tour winner is ready for the sprint to the end of season finish line on Sunday.
Player Quotes
Rory McIlroy: I’m very excited to be back here, and very excited to be in contention for the eighth. I made some ground up last week, maybe not as much as I wanted, but I felt like it was a step in the right direction.
Getting back to a place where I’ve played well and had a lot of success, even last year in the playoff with Matt (Fitzpatrick) it’s been a course that’s been very good to me over the years. I have a lot of experience on it and a lot of experience up at the top end of the leaderboard. Experience going out in that final group on a Thursday.
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Excited to do it all over again, and you know, try to play well enough to give myself a real chance at the weekend.
I’ll always remember the first (Race to Dubai title) pretty well because of how I did it. I birdied the last five holes in a row, I think. Justin Rose was making a big push. He finished really well. So that was a cool way to win.
I had a nice battle with Andy Sullivan in 2015. That was a cool day, as well. And then the last few years, it’s been — I played well much earlier in the year where I’ve maybe not had to play at my absolute best to get it done, and this week’s a little bit different.
But I do go back to the first one. I think I was second in The Race to Dubai in 2009. And then I played pretty well in ’10 and ’11, not close enough to get it done, but to get that first one in ’12, I’ll remember that.
