Rory McIlroy has his sights set on overtaking one European golfing great and closing the gap on another as he looks to win the Harry Vardon Trophy for a seventh time at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
Related: Aaron Rai punches big to upstage Tommy Fleetwood in Abu Dhabi
McIlroy comes into the week as both defending champion and reigning Race to Dubai champion, and the World Number Two currently leads nearest challenger Marco Penge by 767-points in his bid to move past Seve Ballesteros‘ six order of merit wins and close in on Colin Montgomerie‘s record of eight.
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With 2,000 points awarded to the winner of the final Rolex Series event of the season at Jumeirah Golf Estates this week, McIlroy knows that despite ending last week’s event in Abu Dhabi with a ten under round of 62, both Penge and his Ryder Cup team mate Tyrrell Hatton could yet overtake him at the top of the Rankings as he bids to wrap up a remarkable season on another high note.
As he ends the year that famously included his landmark victory at Augusta National in April, it was also announced today that the DP World Tour is inaugurating the Rory McIlroy Award, a new annual trophy named in honour of Europe’s first winner of the Career Grand Slam.
Tommy Fleetwood is also aiming to round out a momentous season in style as the Dubai resident bids to win the DP World Tour Championship for the first time.
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The Englishman comes into this year’s edition in sparkling form, having ended his wait for a first PGA TOUR title at the Tour Championship to capture the FedExCup in August, joining McIlroy in playing a key role in Europe’s historic away Ryder Cup victory at Bethpage Black in September and winning the DP World India Championship last month.
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He also went close to adding to his two Rolex Series titles at last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship but lost out to his good friend Aaron Rai in a tense play-off on Sunday.
Player Quotes
Rory McIlroy: Obviously a great day on Sunday. It looked like I was probably going to have a similar cushion over Marco to what I had last week. I was able to turn it on on the back nine and make a few birdies and give myself a chance to win the tournament, but also a little bit more of a lead going in here.
Found myself in a familiar position going into this week, going out last on Thursday, and you know, be good to tee it up alongside Marco again. I’m excited for a great week.
To move from six to seven titles, to go one past Seve would be amazing. To get one closer to Monty would be amazing. 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.
This golf course has been good to me over the years. I would say the only change that I noticed this year compared to last year is the rough isn’t quite as long or quite as thick as it was last year. I would say the scoring might be a little bit better this week because the rough isn’t up, but overall, the course is in great condition. It’s set up to be another great week.
