Collin Morikawa capped a stunning season in remarkable fashion as he lifted both the Race to Dubai and DP World Tour Championship on one of the most enthralling days of golf at the season-finale in recent memory.
The Race to Dubai title looked well and truly in the grasp of the 24-year-old at the beginning of the final round, but Matt Fitzpatrick quickly surged to the top of the leaderboard to make it all to play for over the Earth Course.
Just as things were starting to heat up with a number of players battling it out for top spot, Morikawa, who was one under for his round after 11 holes, found another gear with birdies at five of his last seven holes to reach 17 under par, which gave him a three-stroke win over Fitzpatrick and Alexander Bjork.
The triumph sees him become the first American to lift the iconic Harry Vardon trophy just before the European Tour sets off on a new path with the DP World rebrand coming into effect on Monday morning.
If that slice of history wasn’t enough, he becomes the first American to win the season-ending event and the first ever player to win a Major Championship, a WGC title, a Rolex Series title and the Race to Dubai in the same season.
“It feels so good,” he said. “I would be lying to you if I said I wasn’t watching what Matt Fitzpatrick was doing today. Boy, did he put on a run. Props to him, made a lot of birdies early on.
“But it’s 18 holes. All I needed to do was catch a spark. I feel great right now. Winning the DP World Tour Championship, coming here last year, my first time to Dubai, really special.
“I just kept telling myself to focus and I was excited for this moment. I was telling everyone, the nerves are there but I’m excited. I channelled that nervous energy into excitement and I wanted to keep hitting good shot after good shot and, no matter where my ball is going to be, just going to find a way to somehow put it in the hole and putts started dropping and that’s always fun.
“The way my head is wired I’m always looking for what’s next but I’m going to try to enjoy this one. This one is special.”
Robert MacIntyre and Nicolai Hojgaard finished four strokes off the pace in a share of fourth, while Rory McIlroy led at various points during the final day but bogeyed three of his last four holes to slip to 12 under.
