McIlroy finishes a messy season right
He sweep to sixth Race to Dubai title; Holywood protégé McKibbin snags PGA Tour card
Rory McIlroy was relieved to finally close out another victory (Waleed Zein/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy captured the DP World Tour Championship for the third time, ending his 2024 season with a satisfying victory on Sunday after a year that will be remembered more for his close calls and personal woes.
McIlroy shot a final-round 69 to win the season-ending Race to Dubai event by two strokes over Rasmus Højgaard, the young Dane who denied him a victory two months ago at the Irish Open. McIlroy closed it out with birdies on two of the last three holes.
The four-time major champion, who now has 19 victories on the DP World Tour, was emotional afterward as he also won his sixth Race to Dubai title, formerly known as the European tour’s Order of Merit. In doing so, he tied the late Seve Ballesteros and now will set his sights on Colin Montgomerie, who won the overall title eight times.
“I’ve been through a lot this year, professionally, personally and it feels like the fitting end to 2024,” McIlroy said in a post-round interview with Sky Sports at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
“I’ve persevered this year. I’ve had a lot of close calls, wasn’t able to get it done. So to be able to get over the line, I got off to a great start, and then I didn’t have my best around the middle of the round. I thought saving par on 15 was huge and then I made four great swings coming in with the wedge on 16, the shot into 17 and then the two shots in the last. So really pleased with the way I finished. I hung on a tough day and got the job done.”
McIlroy began the final round tied for the lead with France’s Antoine Rozner and Højgaard, and after a bogey at the first hole made four consecutive birdies to seemingly take control of the tournament.
But he dropped shots at the ninth and 13th to fall into a tie with Højgaard and needed a 15-footer for par at the 15th to stay tied. From there, he hit a wedge shot close for an easy birdie at the 16th hole, navigated the difficult par-3 17th, and then birdied the 18th after Højgaard missed from a longer distance.
It was the fourth victory of the year worldwide for McIlroy, who won early in the season at the Dubai Desert Classic and then captured PGA Tour events at the Zurich Classic (with Shane Lowry) and the Wells Fargo Championship.
The latter victory had barely sunk in when different headlines appeared a day later as public records revealed McIlroy had filed for divorce from his wife, Erica, in the days leading up to the PGA Championship.
The couple later reconciled but McIlroy didn’t win again until Sunday, the year surely overshadowed by his runner-up finish to Bryson DeChambeau at the U.S. Open, where he bogeyed three of the final four holes including missed short putts at the 16th and 18th holes.
McIlroy also had runner-up finishes at the Irish Open and at the BMW PGA Championship, where he lost to Billy Horschel in a playoff.
Those 19 DP World Tour wins include three at the DP World Tour Championship and go along with 26 PGA Tour victories. Among them are four major championships but none since 2014.
Matching Ballesteros was all but assured as his nearest challenger, Thriston Lawrence of South Africa, needed to win the tournament in order to catch McIlroy.
“It’s really cool,” McIlroy said. “I think everyone knows what Seve means to European golf, to Ryder Cup players. In the European Ryder Cup locker room, all we have are quotes of Seve. We have a changing room with Seve’s shirt from ’95, the last Ryder Cup he played.
“He means so much to European golf, and for me to be mentioned in the same breath, I’m very proud.”
McIlroy said he is looking forward to some down time. He is scheduled to play in the one-day Match in Las Vegas next month with partner Scottie Scheffler against LIV Golf stars DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka. He is not expected to resume his schedule until late January, when he defends his Dubai Desert Classic title.
Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin eked out the last spot on PGA Tour (Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
10 more DP World guys coming to America
The DP World Tour Championship also was the place where 10 spots to potential PGA Tour members for 2025 were decided.
Among those who made it to America was Tom McKibben, the 21-year-old Northern Irishman who hails from the same club in Holywood that Rory McIlroy grew up on.
The two shared a brief embrace after McIlroy’s victory on Sunday.
McKibben shot 72 in the final round to hold off England’s Jordan Smith by just 10.5 points in the Race to Dubai.
“Yeah, it would be great to be over there on the PGA Tour, a tour I’ve watched for a long time, and it will be great over there and play some golf,’’ McKibben said in comments reported by the Irish Independent. “Very exciting.”
A birdie on the final hole is what finally sealed his place on the PGA Tour, which last year started granting spots to the top 10 players not otherwise exempt in the final DP World Tour standings.
“I think it was a tough one,” McKibben said. “I mean, sort of wanting to finish the tournament as best I can, knowing that was on the line, a hard golf course and pretty tricky day. Especially 17, 18, I feel like you don’t have to hit too poor of a shot to find the water and luckily I hit pretty good ones.”
McKibben made his major championship debut this year, tying for 41st at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst and also made the cut at the Open at Royal Troon.
Denmark’s Højgaard, who had a strong year on the DP World Tour, earned the top card. Others to do so were South Africa’s Lawrence, England’s Paul Waring (who won last week’s event in Abu Dhabi), Sweden’s Jesper Svensson, Denmark’s Nicklas Nørgaard, Italy’s Matteo Manassero, Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen, France’s Antoine Rozner and Japan’s Rijuya Hoshino.
All of those players along with the top 30 in the final Race to Dubai standings will earn a spot in next year’s Open at Royal Portrush.