<figure id="attachment_3211492" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3211492" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-3211492 size-full" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/5028f622-golf-rory-mcilroy-afp-17_11_25.webp" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3211492" class="wp-caption-text">Rory McIlroy celebrates with his trophy at the end of the 2025 DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai. (AFP pic)</figcaption></figure>
DUBAI: Rory McIlroy lost the week-long US$10 million DP World Tour Championship on Sunday in a playoff against Matt Fitzpatrick, but did enough to ensure he was crowned the winner of the season-long Race to Dubai champion.
&#8220;It&#8217;s absolutely incredible. I knew I still had a bit of work to do to get over the line in the Race to Dubai,&#8221; said McIlroy, who will remain the world No2.
McIlroy topped the European tour&#8217;s season ending rankings for a seventh time, and for the fourth season in a row. He broke a tie with Severiano Ballesteros and is one behind Colin Montgomerie, who achieved the feat eight times.
&#8220;It seems within touching distance now,&#8221; said McIlroy. &#8220;I was the first European to win the Grand Slam and I&#8217;d love to be the most successful European in terms of winning Order of Merits and season-long races.&#8221;
He added that Ballesteros &#8220;was always my dad&#8217;s favourite player&#8221;.
&#8220;When I hear Seve, it just sort of brings me back through my whole journey in the game, and yeah, it&#8217;s quite emotional.&#8221;
Englishman Fitzpatrick made a birdie on the 72nd hole of regulation play to finish with a 66 at the Earth course of Jumeirah Golf Estates. A few minutes later, Northern Ireland&#8217;s McIlroy sensationally eagled the same hole after a brilliant second shot to 16 feet.
On the first playoff hole, McIlroy&#8217;s drive found the stream that crosses the fairway, and could only make a bogey, leaving Fitzpatrick a third-time winner of the season-ending tournament.
Fitzpatrick, the 2022 US Open champion, kept his nerve for his third DP World Tour Championship title and a 10th DP World Tour victory in 195 starts.
Until he finished tied eighth in the PGA Championship in May, he did not have a top-10 for nearly 11 months.
&#8220;This means the world,&#8221; said Fitzpatrick, who picked up two-and-half points as Europe won the Ryder Cup in September.
&#8220;Struggled at the start of this year, obviously, and to turn it around in the summer like I did and have a Ryder Cup like I did, it feels like it&#8217;s hard to top given everything.&#8221;
&#8220;I feel like I really didn&#8217;t hit one bad shot all day,&#8221; he said.
Four players – England&#8217;s Tommy Fleetwood (67) and Laurie Canter (67), Sweden&#8217;s Ludvig Aberg (66) and Denmark&#8217;s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (68) – tied for third at 17-under par total.
McIlroy, the Masters champion, seemed to be motoring along when he made five birdies in his first 11 holes to move ahead by two shots.
A bogey on the 12th hole, where he overshot the green with his approach shot, and another dropped shot on the par-four 16th, where he found a bunker, pulled him back.
After McIlroy&#8217;s long birdie putt lipped out on the 17th, he was one behind a group of four players.
That became a two-shot deficit when Fitzpatrick made the sixth birdie of his bogey-free round on the 18th.
McIlroy responded with a towering second shot from 234 yards into headwind to 16 feet for his eagle to force the playoff.
England&#8217;s Marco Penge finished in a tie for 22nd to secure second place in the Race to Dubai.
He led 10 non-exempt players who will get their PGA Tour card for 2026. That list includes Canter, Kristoffer Reitan, Adrien Saddier, Alex Noren, John Parry, Haotong Li, Keita Nakajima, Neergaard-Petersen and Jordan Smith.

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