Rory McIlroy completed a wonderful Dubai double for the second time in his career, after winning the season-ending DP World Tour Championship and with it the 2015 Race to Dubai title.
The Northern Irishman produced a magnificent final round 66 over Jumeriah Estates’ Earth Course to come out on top after an epic duel with Andy Sullivan, winning by a single shot.
Danny Willett, the only player who could prevent McIlroy winning the money list for the third time in four years, finished eight shots behind in tied fourth, after a closing 70. McIlroy came into the week with a 1,614-point lead over Willett in the Race to Dubai and needed to match whatever his rival did, but sealed his position emphatically in a repeat of 2012, the year he first won the season-long money list.
McIlroy and Sullivan traded four birdies and a bogey apiece on the front nine, before McIlroy moved up a gear on the back nine as his rival began to run out of steam. He left the door ajar when he hit his tee shot in the water on the par-three 17th, but made arguably the best bogey of his life, holing a putt from 35 feet to retain the lead, before sealing victory with a par at the last.
“I’m really happy to have ended the season on a high,” said the winner. “I’ve played really good golf this week – 13 under par over the weekend – and I couldn’t think of a better way to finish the season. I feel like my game has been gradually progressing throughout these last few weeks, and it was nice to hole some putts over the weekend.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Andy played phenomenal golf over the first three days. and from what little I saw on TV, it didn’t look like he was missing many putts. Then the birdie on 12 was huge to tie the lead, and then the two birdies on 14 and 15, when he didn’t make them, that gave me a nice little cushion going into the last three holes. Thankfully I rolled that putt in on 17. I guess if I had been tied playing the last, I would have backed myself with my length, but giving myself that one-shot cushion made a huge difference.”
Sullivan, who shot a final round 68 for the biggest payday of his career, said: “It doesn’t really get any better than that. I gave it everything on the front nine, but just couldn’t quite get the putts to drop on the back nine. To go head to head with Rory was absolutely awesome, and something that will stick with me for a long time. Every time he holed a putt, I holed one straight after. On 17 I thought ‘I’m back in this, I’ve got a chance again’. But I gave him a great read on my putt, and I fully expected him to hole his. That’s just the world-class performer he is. I can take so much from this week, the way I’ve played and the way I’ve handled it, and in a world-class field.”
Final scores
267 R McIlroy (Nir) 68 68 65 66,
268 A Sullivan (Eng) 66 66 68 68,
273 B Grace (RSA) 68 69 69 67,
275 C Schwartzel (RSA) 71 65 70 69, D Willett (Eng) 68 70 67 70, E Grillo (Arg) 69 64 71 71, F Molinari (Ita) 67 71 69 68, B An (Kor) 70 68 66 71, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 68 69 68 70,
276 M Kaymer (Ger) 66 71 71 68, S Kjeldsen (Den) 71 70 67 68, P Reed (USA) 70 65 68 73,
279 T Hatton (Eng) 69 69 72 69, L Donald (Eng) 69 72 68 70, C Wood (Eng) 68 70 69 72, V Dubuisson (Fra) 72 67 69 71,
280 R Ramsay (Sco) 71 70 68 71, K Broberg (Swe) 70 73 67 70, L Slattery (Eng) 76 71 68 65, B Wiesberger (Aut) 72 65 72 71, T Olesen (Den) 70 74 68 68,
281 G Stal (Fra) 71 70 68 72, J Rose (Eng) 71 66 78 66, P Larrazábal (Esp) 69 72 72 68, P Uihlein (USA) 71 69 69 72, A Wall (Eng) 71 70 70 70, R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 76 70 69 66, A Cañizares (Esp) 68 71 70 72, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 73 65 73 70, T Pieters (Bel) 69 69 73 70,
282 T Jaidee (Tha) 69 67 69 77, J Luiten (Ned) 69 72 68 73, L Bjerregaard (Den) 69 71 71 71,
283 A Lahiri (Ind) 73 67 72 71, M Fraser (Aus) 66 72 74 71, J Donaldson (Wal) 70 71 71 71, M Warren (Sco) 72 68 70 73,
284 S Gallacher (Sco) 73 72 69 70, L Oosthuizen (RSA) 73 68 70 73, G Bourdy (Fra) 73 68 69 74, A Noren (Swe) 71 66 71 76,
285 L Westwood (Eng) 71 70 74 70, J Van Zyl (RSA) 72 70 70 73, I Poulter (Eng) 66 74 71 74, D Howell (Eng) 72 76 69 68,
286 A Levy (Fra) 74 71 73 68, R Fisher (Eng) 69 73 71 73,
287 S Lowry (Irl) 75 70 69 73, R Jacquelin (Fra) 76 69 74 68, G Storm (Eng) 73 72 71 71, M Kieffer (Ger) 71 71 71 74, M Jiménez (Esp) 68 74 72 73,
288 R Karlberg (Swe) 72 72 70 74, J Quesne (Fra) 73 71 67 77, T Fleetwood (Eng) 77 72 69 70,
289 S Hend (Aus) 77 69 74 69, F Zanotti (Par) 68 73 73 75,
290 E Pepperell (Eng) 71 72 73 74,
291 J Morrison (Eng) 71 73 71 76, H Stenson (Swe) 77 69 72 73