Despite not having to compete last Sunday, Rory McIlroy won the Race to Dubai title early. However, the Northern Irishman acknowledged that he wasn’t playing at his best at the DP World Tour Championship this week.
A week ahead of schedule and having already secured his fifth Race to Dubai title, Rory McIlroy has acknowledged that he was ill-prepared for this week’s DP World Tour Championship.
McIlroy landed the DP World Tour’s Order of Merit for the second time in as many years last week, all without having to lift a finger. The Northern Irishman’s nearest competitors failed to close in on him at last week’s Nedbank Golf Challenge, which ensured the title was wrapped a week prior to the season finale.
Heading to Dubai already a champion, McIlroy got off to a slow start at the Earth Course, sitting 10 shots behind 36-hole leader – and Ryder Cup teammate – Nicolai Hojgaard after opening rounds of 71 and 72.
With his hopes of ending his campaign with a victory now faded McIlroy finally kicked into gear on Saturday, carding a superb seven-under 65 in round three to move him inside the top 20 with 18 holes to play. Opening up on his bounce back, the four-time major winner put his slow start down to his lack of preparation heading into the week.
“I haven’t done much at all after the Ryder Cup. You know, tried to putt in a little bit of practice over the last couple of weeks,” he commented. “But I sort of jammed my wrist, as well, a couple weeks ago and that sort of limited how many balls I hit, too.
“Yeah, just sort of came in not as prepared as I could have been or should have been, but feel like I’m starting to find my feet a little bit after a few days.” McIlroy’s third round showing came without a blemish, after the 34-year-old birdied seven of his 18 holes on Saturday morning.
While the former Open champion headed to Dubai with the luxury of having the season-long title already wrapped up, he did admit it was not exactly how he planned on defending his crown. “I probably would have liked to have done it another way,” he said pre-tournament.
“But I’ve played well when I’ve came back over to The European Tour this year and won two Rolex Series Events and had some other really high finishes in tournaments that give a lot of points, and yeah, look, it’s really nice to have my name on the Harry Vardon Trophy for the fifth time and just be one behind Seve and still a few behind [Colin Montgomerie]
In any case, you’re discussing the greats of the European game, and to be up close by them is truly, assuming somebody had told 18-year-old Rory when I was making my expert presentation in 2007 that I would have won five Request for Benefits so far, I could never have trusted them.”
McIlroy has played only nine Rush to Dubai occasions en route to gathering one more title, and notwithstanding his timetable being PGA Visit weighty, his triumphs on the Wentworth-based circuit are plainly still similarly as significant. “I surely don’t underestimate it,” he added.
“Furthermore, you know, it shows the consistency that I’ve played with throughout recent years that despite the fact that I feel like I’ve had a decent year, I don’t feel like I’ve had an extraordinary year, yet I can in any case feel free to accomplish things like this.”