McIlroy king of world, Europe, US but has major aim
When Rory McIlroy won the order of merit in Dubai on Monday for the first time since 2015, he made history as the first golfer to finish the year as No 1 in Europe, the United States and the world.
Asked his next target, the Northern Irishman was emphatic: “To win another major. Look, I took seven years to win another one of these and it’ll be eight years next year since I won a major. Let’s see if I can break that drought as well.”
If he carries on in this form, that will be a formality. McIlroy set another first by topping the standings of the DP World Tour without winning an event on the circuit.
He lifted his fourth Harry Vardon Trophy largely by finishing second in the Masters, third in the Open, fifth in the US Open and eighth in the US PGA.
“Yeah, it was my play in the majors that did for me and completing that treble is an amazing achievement, an achievement I haven’t been able to accomplish before,” he said after shooting a 68 for 16 under and fourth place in the DP World Tour Championship.
“I’ve been able to win this Tour’s rankings and finish the year as world No 1. But to do it in America as well, it’s very cool. I’m 33 and my body is in the best shape it has been. And I’m as complete a golfer as I’ve ever been as well. Hopefully I can continue on that path. This means a lot.”
Matt Fitzpatrick had the only realistic chance of overhauling McIlroy on the money list, but tailed away with a 73 to finish in a tie for fifth on 13 under.
That confirmed McIlroy in top spot in the DP World Tour rankings, with Kiwi Ryan Fox second, Jon Rahm third and Fitzpatrick fourth.
Ideally, McIlroy would have enjoyed a double celebration to finish his competitive year, but Rahm was far too strong and won the tournament proper by two strokes.
If McIlroy is the undisputed best player in the world, then the Spaniard is the greatest player on Earth — the Earth Course at the Jumeirah Estates, that is. This was his fourth start in this Tour season-ender and his record now reads first, fourth, first, first. In his 288 holes on the course Rahm is a combined 72 under. This performance was Rahm’s finest yet, a 67 taking him to 20 under. That saw him fend off another Englishman in Tyrrell Hatton (66) and the Swede Alex Noren (67) on 18 under.
“I feel fairly confident on the golf course, yes,” Rahm said with glorious understatement after collecting a cheque for £2.5 million. “Hopefully people can now stop telling me that this was a bad year for me. Three wins in three different continents is not bad. It’s still a really good season.”
Alas, the rankings do not reflect this. In 2022, Rahm has somehow fallen from first to fifth. He began the week calling the new world ranking formula “laughable” and this result confirmed it to him.
“In my last four appearances, I’ve gone second, first, fourth, first and my world ranking has not changed at all,” Rahm said. “I feel like it gets to a point where your play should start to be rewarded. I understand why they made the changes but I’ll say it one more time, the fact we don’t get the same points for a win here is a bit of a joke.”