Dubai: Rory McIlroy said the Race to Dubai is his to lose going into this week’s European Tour season-ending DP World Tour Championship, after no one was able to overtake him in the money-list at the BMW Masters last weekend.
The 26-year-old Northern Irishman skipped the penultimate round of the season in Shanghai thanks to a medical exemption following an ankle injury, which prevents him from playing too many back-to-back tournaments during his recovery. He was therefore allowed to play just 12 of the necessary 13 events to stay in the running for the European crown.
Next-placed Danny Willett would have overtaken McIlroy in the money list if he had finished solo 28th or above in China, but he ironically finished tied for 28th — leaving him just 1613 points short of the Ulsterman coming into the year-ender at Jumeirah Golf Estates, which tees-off on Thursday.
“I didn’t quite think I’d be in this position coming into this event, especially after taking last week off,” said McIlroy, who is on course for a third Race to Dubai title after overall series victories in 2012 and 2014.
“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. 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.”
McIlroy injured his left ankle playing football in July but managed to hold onto his moneylist lead despite a two month layoff, thanks to the fact six of his seven top ten finishes including two wins this season occurred before the setback.
“I feel like I’ve gained most of my points in the first half of the season,” he added. “I’ve just sort of held onto that position. But it would be a really great way to finish the season, and knowing that I haven’t already got it wrapped up, it focuses the mind and I really want to play well this week.
“I’d love to be flying away from here on Monday morning having wrapped up the Race to Dubai and it would be very disappointing if that wasn’t the case.”
Is his ankle better? “It’s totally fine. When I came back at the end of the summer the right and left ankles weren’t quite feeling the same yet but it was still good enough to do what I needed to do. Now they feel exactly the same, which is great.”
McIlroy has won the DP World Tour Championship once (2012) in six appearances since its 2009 inception and has only finished outside the top five once with a tied for 11th finish in 2011. That record will no doubt give him confidence this week as he bids to complete his hat-trick of European crowns.
