To move from six to seven titles would be amazing, Rory McIlroy says

Dubai: The reigning Masters champion currently holds a 767-point advantage over his nearest challenger, Marco Penge, in the Race to Dubai standings, putting him in prime position to secure the season-long title for the fourth consecutive year.

If McIlroy achieves victory on Sunday, he would become a seven-time Race to Dubai champion — moving past Seve Ballesteros, who won six times, and drawing within one title of Colin Montgomerie’s all-time record of eight.

With 2,000 points up for grabs for the winner of this week’s final Rolex Series event at Jumeirah Golf Estates, McIlroy knows that nothing is guaranteed. Still, he remains motivated to climb higher on a list of the sport’s greats.

“To move from six to seven titles, to go one past Seve would be amazing,” McIlroy said. “To get one closer to Monty would be amazing, too. But when I say I’m not chasing anything, I mean that if I focus my energy on certain tournaments and play well in them, the Race to Dubai almost takes care of itself. Hopefully, these season-long awards just come as a by-product of winning the big events along the way. So yes, you could say I’m still chasing it — but more as a result of playing the golf I know I can.”

McIlroy’s lead over Penge grew from 441 points to 767 after a brilliant final-round 62 at last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, where he made an eagle and eight birdies to finish tied for third. Now, he’ll look to maintain that momentum in Dubai — a tournament he has already won three times, including last year.

“Sunday was a great day,” McIlroy reflected. “It looked like I was going to have a similar cushion over Marco to last week, but I managed to turn it on the back nine, make a few birdies, and not only give myself a chance to win but also extend my lead heading into Dubai. I thought it was a really good week overall. I played great over the weekend, and now I find myself in a familiar position — teeing off last on Thursday, alongside Marco again. I’m excited for a great week. My game really came together at the weekend, and hopefully I can carry that form through from Thursday onward.”

The World No. 2 also spoke on the day the DP World Tour announced the creation of The Rory McIlroy Award — a new annual trophy named in his honour as Europe’s first Career Grand Slam winner. The award will go to the player who performs best across all four Major Championships in a given season.

McIlroy becomes only the fifth individual to have a DP World Tour award named after them, joining Harry Vardon, Sir Henry Cotton, Seve Ballesteros, and John Jacobs.

“It’s an amazing honour to have my name alongside those legends,” McIlroy said. “That’s very special.”