Race to Dubai: McIlroy aims to clinch Tour title

World number three leading golfing pack ahead of season-ending event


Afp November 17, 2015
In this file photo taken on November 8, 2015, Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland tees off during the WGC-HSBC Champions golf tournament in Shanghai. PHOTO: AFP

DUBAI: Rory McIlroy was not expecting to be leading the Race to Dubai after his injury-interrupted season, but now that he has the chance to win his third European Tour Order of Merit crown, the world number three is intent on not letting the opportunity slip from his grasp.

McIlroy, who leads the Race to Dubai with 3,393,923 points, did not play last week’s BMW Masters in Shanghai, thus allowing the chasing pack to close on him.

His closest rival, England’s Danny Willett needed to finish sole 28th at Lake Malaren to overtake him, but a tied 28th place finish gave McIlroy a slim advantage of 1,613 points going into the DP World Tour Championship, the season-ending event on the European Tour.

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The 26-year-old from Holywood, near Belfast, won both the tournament and the Race to Dubai in 2012, when he closed with five birdies in a row to beat Justin Rose, and was the European number one last year when Henrik Stenson won the DP World Tour Championship for a second straight year.

“I didn’t quite think I’d be in this position, and coming into this event, especially after taking the week off last week, but a few of the guys didn’t capitalise on that in China thankfully and I find myself in a position where it’s totally in my hands,” said McIlroy.

Plenty at stake in Tour Championship

“If I go out and win the tournament, I win the overall thing no matter what anybody else does, and that’s a nice position to be in. If I am the champion at the end of the week, it means that I win the Race to Dubai and that’s all I’m really thinking about.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18th, 2015.

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