Rory McIlroy has played in just four regular DP World Tour events so far this season, but this has not stopped the Northern Irishman from defending his Race to Dubai title
With one week remaining in the 2024 season, Rory McIlroy became the first player since the Race to Dubai era to win the DP World Tour’s annual title.
On Sunday, McIlroy’s triumph in the Race to Dubai was verified, and the four-time major winner didn’t even need to grab a club. After finishing the Nedbank Golf Challenge, McIlroy was crowned the winner because none of his closest rivals could catch him during the entire season.
The 34-year-old has claimed the Wentworth-based circuit’s crown for the fifth time in his career, winning it back-to-back for the second time, having won the title for the first time in seven years last November.
The Northern Irishman had expected to head to the season finale at the DP World Tour Championship still with work to do, but has now wrapped up the victory a week early. The Race to Dubai win comes with an added bonus for McIlroy, as he takes £1.6 million of the £8.1 million purse.
His victory moves him into third in the DP World Tour’s all-time Order of Merit winners list, one ahead of Englishman Peter Oosterhuis. The great Seve Ballesteros is one ahead of McIlroy in the list, with Scottish legend Colin Montgomerie the outright leader, having won eight Harry Vardon trophies in his career.
Despite being three behind at the age of 34, McIlroy has set his sights on chasing down Montgomerie in the list. Speaking prior to his confirmed Race to Dubai win, he said per The Telegraph: “I’ve got a nice little cushion in the Race to Dubai at the minute.
“I know Monty won eight of these things. Hopefully, I can keep on the journey and try and get close to him.” Following the end of the DP World Tour season next week, McIlroy’s attention will turn to something new in the form of his venture with Tiger Woods, TGL.
The innovative golf league was set up by McIlroy and Woods, and will officially launch in the New Year. Last week, the Northern Irishman announced he will represent Boston Common in TGL’s maiden season alongside Tyrrell Hatton, Adam Scott and Keegan Bradley.
In a press conference marking McIlroy’s Boston move, the Northern Irishman was quizzed on the similarities between TGL and LIV Golf, a circuit the Race to Dubai winner has been hugely critical of since its formation in June 2022.
Playing down any similarities, he said: “I think [TGL] is meant to be complimentary [to professional golf], this is not meant to be disrespectful in anyway. Whenever Mike [McCarley] brought this idea to Tiger and I, one of the first things we said is ‘if we are going to do this we are going to have to partner with the PGA Tour in some way and make this complimentary’.”
“I don’t want to sit here and talk about LIV, but you could make the argument that they haven’t innovated enough from what traditional golf is, or they have innovated too much that they are not traditional golf,” he continued, taking a jab at his competitors in LIV. This is so different from what we know golf to be, and they seem to be stuck in a sort of no-man’sland.”
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