DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Rory McIlroy flew to the Middle East two weeks ago in a quest to make more golfing history and with the parting words of his hospital-bound father, Gerry, providing extra motivation.
“Rors, go and win me the Race to Dubai.”
As usual, the son delivered.
McIlroy added another significant achievement to his bulging resumé Sunday, capturing the season-long Race to Dubai title on the European tour for a record-tying eighth
time on what proved to be a dramatic and emotional finale to the World Tour Championship that was won easily by Tyrrell Hatton.
McIlroy finished second — five shots behind Hatton — but, crucially, one place ahead of Eugenio Chacarra in his tense duel with the rising star from Spain.
That meant McIlroy gained enough points — a measly 125.07, to be precise — to leapfrog Chacarra in the Race to Dubai standings and join Colin Montgomerie atop the all-time list of winners of the award, previously called the “Order of Merit.”
With the title wrapped up, McIlroy made a video call to his family and was heard saying, “Stress, stress, stress.” He was referring to the final round on the Earth course but could easily have been talking about the last few months, during which Gerry underwent a double-lung transplant in Cleveland, Ohio.
“I spent nine days in the ICU with him while he was recovering,” McIlroy said of the aftermath of an operation he said was “a success.” “You know, if things were not looking as good as they were, I probably wouldn’t have felt comfortable travelling or being too far away.”
McIlroy wept as he talked about how his father, who took extra jobs to help finance his son’s promising junior golf career, would be proud.
“This one,” McIlroy said, "is for him.”
Hatton started Sunday with a one-shot lead and extended it in shooting 6-under 66 to finish on 15-under par and become the second straight former LIV Golf player to win a big event on the European tour, after Jon Rahm in Abu Dhabi last week.
“I will definitely enjoy Christmas now,” said Hatton, who will be back on the European tour for good for the 2027 season after the demise of LIV.
The drama played out elsewhere Sunday.
In a turbulent final round in which Chacarra played one group behind McIlroy, the pair regularly exchanged places in the top two spots of the projected standings. At one point, when Chacarra birdied the par-5 14th, there was only 0.10 of a point between him and McIlroy.
McIlroy won out, shooting a bogey-free 67 that ultimately left him in outright second place and was memorable for a 128-yard approach to tap-in range for a birdie at No. 16.
Chacarra needed to eagle the par-5 18th — or get some unlikely help from a couple of players finishing their rounds after him — but neither scenario transpired. He shot 69 and tied for third, dropping him to second place in the Race to Dubai standings by the smallest of margins.
Chacarra and McIlroy shared an embrace outside the scorer's hut, with the 26-year-old Spaniard telling his rival he was a “deserved winner.”
He said he was proud of the way he took the fight to McIlroy on his first appearance at the World Tour Championship and in his first full season on the European tour.
“I just came (up) short,” the 26-year-old Chacarra said. "That’s the beauty of golf.
“Obviously, when you play with the best in the world ... he’s played here 14, 15 times, you knew it was going to be tough, and he had a better day than I did.”
McIlroy has now claimed the season-long title for the last five years, as well as in 2012, ’14 and ’15, and targeted getting to “double figures.”
With the likes of Rahm and Hatton back on the tour, it promises to get harder next year. Chacarra might provide a big obstacle in future, too.
“It’s cliché to say, ‘Oh, he’s a fiery Spaniard,’ but he is,” McIlroy said. "That’s sort of who he is, and he plays with his heart on his sleeve and you can see the emotions that he feels out there.
“I always view these things in the lens of the Ryder Cup, and he’s certainly going to be an asset for Europe in the future, for sure.”
A consolation for Chacarra in his breakthrough year was becoming one of 10 players to secure places on next season’s PGA Tour that were available to European tour members not otherwise exempt.
Three of them — including Chacarra — were formerly on the LIV circuit. The others are Patrick Reed and Bernd Wiesberger.
Players typically are banned by the PGA Tour for one year dating to their last LIV appearance. Reed chose in January not to renew his LIV deal and was eligible to return to the PGA Tour for the FedEx Cup Fall, but opted instead to try to win the Race to Dubai title. He was tied for 31st on Sunday and finished fourth in the season-long points standings.
Wiesberger returned to the European tour in 2024 after playing two seasons at LIV.
Also getting a card for the PGA Tour were South Africans Casey Jarvis and Jayden Schaper, Daniel Hillier of New Zealand, Jakob Skov Olesen of Denmark, Oliver Lindell of Finland, and English players Andy Sullivan and Joe Dean.
Just six years ago, Dean was delivering groceries during the COVID-19 pandemic. He kept doing it for nearly four years to help fund his golf career when he didn’t have a card, and now he is heading across the Atlantic.
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