DP World Tour Championship final leaderboard
-15 Hatton (Eng); -10 McIlroy (NI); -8 Chacarra (Spa), Lindell (Fin); -7 Olesen (Den), Reitan (Nor), Laporta (Ita), Lindberg (Swe), Perez (Fra)
Selected others: -4 Wallace (Eng); -3 Rahm (Spa), Schaper (SA); Level Fleetwwod (Eng), Reed (US), Fox (NZ); +1 Rai (Eng)
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Rory McIlroy pipped Eugenio Chacarra in a thrilling battle to win a record-equalling eighth season-long European tour title, and his fifth in a row.
Tyrrell Hatton secured a commanding victory at the DP World Tour Championship, but all eyes were on the battle to win the season-long Race to Dubai crown.
Chacarra and McIlroy went toe-to-toe in Dubai where the overall lead in the rankings chopped and changed down an absorbing back nine as neither man backed down.
But a late surge from Northern Ireland’s McIlroy allowed him to finish runnder-up behind England’s Hatton in the tournament and collect enough points to edge out the gutsy Spaniard Chacarra.
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It means McIlroy ties Colin Montgomerie’s long-standing record, while enhancing his claims to be Europe’s greatest ever golfer.
After Jon Rahm’s victory in Abu Dhabi last week, fellow former LIV Golf member Hatton showed his class with a five-shot success at the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
Hatton showed his combustible side earlier in the week but he was serene on Sunday as, while all the scrambling for the Race To Dubai title was going on, he was detached enough to stroll to his ninth DP World Tour victory – even asking an on-course reporter who was going to win as he walked from the 17th green to 18th tee.
It was that head-to-head battle between Chacarra and McIlroy that dominated the tournament, a battle that, after a long hard season, came right down to the final few holes.
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At one juncture just one-tenth of a point separated the pair.
Chacarra, who earned around $15-20m during three years as a LIV player, is in just his second season on the DP World Tour. He is the only three-time winner of this year’s campaign and was desperate to add his name to compatriots Rahm and Seve Ballesteros as the third Spanish order of merit winner.
After four early birdies he looked in fine shape. But it looked like the pressure got to him as he posted three bogeys in four holes around the turn. But he responded brilliantly with two more birdies to push McIlroy all the way.
Chacarra, the 26-year-old world number 39, finished a gutsy display in a tie for third to end up second in the overall standings and earn a PGA Tour card for next season.
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But six-time major champion McIlroy’s bogey-free 67, saw him finish in outright second, with enough points to make it five Race To Dubai triumphs in a row.
Emotional McIlroy targets double figures
Rory McIlroy wants to move ahead of Colin Montgomerie as he targets 10 Race To Dubai titles [Getty Images]
An emotional McIlroy dedicated his latest Race To Dubai to his father Gerry, who he revealed has been in hospital for two months after “a huge operation” at the end of September.
“He’s recovering well, thankfully,” McIlroy told the DP World Tour.
“But before I left to come here to the Middle East, I went up to Cleveland to see him. He said to me: ‘Go win The Race to Dubai’.
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“This one’s for him.”
McIlroy was later asked what his target was now after drawing level with Montgomerie.
“Yeah, double digits,” he said after being prompted by the crowd.
“I’d love to surpass Monty next year and we’ll go from there.”
As tough as it was this year for McIlroy to win, mainly due to playing on the PGA Tour for the first half of the season, 2027 will be even harder because there will be some big names flooding in after the collapse of LIV Golf.
Rahm and Hatton are just two high-profile LIV players who are suspended from the PGA Tour for a year following their involvement with the breakaway tour. They will both have a full season on the European circuit that will give them a big advantage over McIlroy.
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Along with many other big names such as Sergio Garcia, Joaquin Niemann and Tom McKibbin, there’s even the possibility of Bryson DeChambeau, the biggest LIV name of all, applying to join the DP World Tour for next season.
The American is eligible thanks to his 2024 US Open triumph, at McIlroy’s painful expense, and had to apply by the end of the Sunday of the DP World Tour Championship.
More to follow.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
